The Gold Locket
by Blair-Warner02
Summary: The sequel to 'The Pink Rose.' Lives are turned upside-down when the children return home from summer camp.
1. Camp Frozen Lake

Chapter 1

The counselors at Camp Frozen Lake had just been handed their cabin assignments.

"I have Rachel Anderson, Jamie Bonner, Ashley Jameson, and Hannah Jones," said Jessica, a twenty-two-year-old short woman, her long brunette hair was pulled back in a ponytail. Jessica was from New Jersey and this would be her fifth summer as a camp counselor. "I'm happy I have a great group of kids this year."

"I have Serena Gates, Elsie Philips, Kelly Price, and Tisha Williams" Hayley said, another twenty-two-year-old, she was taller than Jessica by a few inches and had short brown hair and wore glasses; this was also her fifth summer as a counselor. Hayley was from Massachusetts, she and Jessica were best friends and had met at Camp Frozen Lake when they were eight years old. "I never had any of these kids before."

Jessica looked at Hayley's list, "You might have your hands full."

"What! Why?"

"Well Kelly is allergic to bees, Tisha gets really homesick the first few days, but she'll start having fun and then she'll be fine, and Elsie still wets the bed."

"Great," Hayley said. "I will have my hands full."

Hayley turned to Leah, a twenty-year-old with short black hair cut in a pixie bob, "Who do you have?"

"I have Anna Davidson, Kristy Matthews, Jackie Smith, and Kelsey Warner," Leah answered. Leah was a tomboy from New Hampshire and had been coming to Camp Frozen Lake since she was five years old. She was eager to start her third summer as a counselor. "I've never had Kelsey. Does anyone know what she's like?"

"Yeah, I had her last year." Jessica said. "Her parents are rich and she doesn't like to get dirty, so some of the other kids will try to get her dirty, and when I say 'other kids' I mean mostly Jamie. Kelsey will go horseback riding, but not much else."

"Well, I can probably push her out of her comfort zone," Leah turned to Katie, a shy teenage girl that wore her blonde hair in two braids, "Who do you have, Rookie?"

"I have Annie Robinson, Mary Taylor, Missy Tyler, and Beth White," Katie answered. Katie had just turned eighteen and this was her first year as a counselor, she had been coming to Camp Frozen Lake since she was ten years old. She was the only one of the female counselors that hadn't travelled far from home, since she was from New York. Katie had just graduated from Eastland and would attend Langley in the fall.

"You have Annie Robinson," Hayley said. "I feel sorry for you."

"Oh come on, she's just a little girl," Katie said. "She can't be that bad."

* * *

The girls sat in the back of the bus. Jamie and Kelsey shared a seat and Annie and Tisha were in the seat across from them. Annie looked over at Tisha who was staring out the window watching scenery go by with tears running down her face.

"What's the matter, why are you crying?"

Tisha stopped staring out the window and looked at Annie, "I don't want to go to stupid camp. I miss my Mommy and Daddy."

Annie put her arm around Tisha, "camp will be fun, you'll make new friends and it'll be over before you know it and you won't want to leave."

"Yeah, and you can go horseback riding," Kelsey piped up from the seat next to them.

"And wall climbing, and canoeing, and swimming," Jamie added excitedly.

"I'm not going swimming. I'm not getting my hair wet." Kelsey said.

Jamie smirked. "Oh, I will personally make sure _you_ end up in the lake."

Annie saw that Tisha still wasn't feeling better about going to camp, "I know what will cheer you up, do you want to sing the bubble gum song?"

Tisha's face lit up, "that's my favorite!"

* * *

Tootie was running her lines for the TV show pilot that would be taped in a few days. The network had ordered the pilot, but had not picked up the series yet. The show was about two roommates living together in a New York City apartment, one was a fashion designer and one was a struggling artist. Tootie was playing the fashion designer. Tootie heard the door open and Jeff called for her.

"I'm home, Tootie, where are you?"

"I'm in here," she called from the living room.

Jeff came in the living room, "Do you want to do dinner and a movie tonight, since Tisha isn't here?"

"Can we go see that new romantic comedy?"

"Sure Baby, anything you want."

"Do you think Tisha will be OK at camp? She was really upset," Tootie asked.

"She'll be fine, she's been there before and she liked it. It may take a few days and she'll have fun."

"I hope you're right, Jeff."

* * *

The camp buses finally arrived at the camp. All the kids got out and the boys separated from the girls.

"Hey Annie, isn't that the kid you beat up last year?" Jamie asked pointing to a nine-year-old boy.

"Scott?" Annie asked looking over at the group of boys. "I don't see any scrawny, nerdy looking, boys over there."

"Annie, I don't think he's scrawny or nerdy looking anymore," Tisha said. "It looks like he's bigger than you now."

"No way," Annie said. "I don't believe it, there's no way that scrawny little kid is bigger than…"

"Hi, Annie," Scott walked over the group of girls.

"Me," Annie finished. She stood there, admiring Scott, mouth open in shock.

"I see you haven't changed much."

"What happened to your glasses?"

"I wear contacts now. I also had a growth spurt, looks like I'm taller than you now. So I guess I won't have to worry about you calling me a shrimp anymore."

Annie just stared at him, too shocked to speak.

"Well, I just wanted to come over and say hi," Scott said. "I better get back over with the other boys, they are about to tell us our cabin assignments. I'll see you around."

Scott walked away and Kelsey came up behind Annie. "I think he likes you."

"Yeah, uh-huh, right." Secretly, Annie hoped it was true.

* * *

Natalie zipped her suitcase. Everything was ready for her cross country book tour. Natalie had written a book about Blair's recovery after the plane crash and it was quickly becoming a best seller. Natalie would spend the next six weeks in 18 different cities across the country signing copies of her book. While she was on her book tour, Snake would be driving his truck to different stops across the country. On days that Snake wouldn't be home, Blair would pick up their mail.

Natalie was pulling her suitcase off of the bed when the phone rang. Picking up the phone from the bedside table, Natalie greeted the caller and her face fell when she found out that it was the camp calling.

"What did she do now?" Natalie was frustrated, Annie hadn't been there for one night and Natalie had already received a call.

"Oh, Annie hasn't done anything that I know of. I'm calling because we don't have Annie's medical form."

"Oh shoot, can I fax it to you?" Natalie spotted the form on the kitchen table. Natalie wrote down the fax number, "Ok, great thanks, you should have it in a minute."

Natalie hung up the phone as Snake came out of the shower.

"What did she do this time?"

"Nothing, actually…yet," Natalie finished. "They called because they don't have Annie's medical form and I'm faxing it right now."

"OK, since we're alone, what do you say we go to that new restaurant tonight for dinner?"

"Really," Natalie squealed. "Snake, I love you!"

* * *

"Alright everyone, listen up," Jessica shouted. "When your counselor calls your name, grab your bags and follow them to your cabin."

Leah started, "Anna Davidson, Kristy Matthews, Jackie Smith, and Kelsey Warner."

Kelsey grabbed her bags, "Bye guys, I'll see you later."

"Bye, Kels," Jamie said.

Leah started leading the group away, "My name's Leah and I'll be your counselor, and we are in Bear cabin."

Jessica called her kids and Jamie grabbed her stuff and followed her.

Jessica led them to the cabin, "My name's Jessica and we're going to Raccoon cabin."

"Annie Robinson, Mary Taylor, Missy Tyler, and Beth White," Katie called.

Annie stood up and grabbed her stuff. Tisha started getting upset, "I wanted to be with you."

"You'll be fine, Tisha. I'll see you in a little bit."

Annie followed Katie to Wolf cabin. When they reached the cabin, Annie made sure she claimed a top bunk.

"Listen up, we have to go over some rules," Katie started.

"Number 1: Lights out at 10:30"

"Two: If you have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, you must wake me up and tell me where you're going and you must go with a buddy."

"Three: You must also bring a flash light, everyone will leave their flashlights next to the door and you may grab any flashlight on the way out. It does not matter if it is the one you brought or not."

"Four: you may not leave the cabin without your counselor, unless you have permission and you must have a buddy with you at all times."

"Does everyone understand these rules?"

Everyone nodded and Annie raised her hand.

"Yes, what is it?"

"Are you a new counselor? You never even told us your name."

"Oh sorry, my name is Katie and I'm your counselor."

Beth raised her hand, "what are we doing next?"

Katie answered, "Once everyone gets their bunks set up, we will go out and you can play with the other kids until it's time for dinner."

* * *

The counselors stood around and watched the kids playing.

"Hey Katie, look there's Brett," Hayley said. "Why don't you go over and say hi?"

"Yeah," Leah said. "You like him, don't you?"

"Yeah," Katie said playing with one her braids.

"So go over there," Jessica said pushing Katie in Brett's direction. Brett was nineteen, had sandy blonde hair, and he was tall, muscular, and athletic. He was from Pennsylvania and this was his second summer as a counselor. Brett caught the girls looking and flashed a smile in their direction.

Katie slowly walked over to Brett and looked behind her at her fellow counselors. The other girls motioned for her to go over to Brett.

"Hi, Brett," Katie said shyly. "So…how's it going?"

"Good," Brett answered. "So, I hear you've got Annie Robinson this year."

"Yeah, but she can't be that bad, right?"

"Oh, she's bad! The camp can't kick her out though, because one of her mother's friends is filthy rich and pays the camp extra to keep her for the summer."

"Really?"

"Yeah, my mom also paid extra for my little sister. She broke her arm, otherwise she wouldn't be here."

"I didn't know you had a sister."

"Her name's Elsie, she's eight. You might have her in your cabin."

"No, I don't have her this year."

"Well I'm sure you'll meet her soon," The bell rang at the mess hall signaling that it was time for dinner. "Dinner time, we better go line up."

* * *

The kids all ran to the mess hall and lined up according to cabin in front of their counselors.

"Alright now we're going to sing a song while we wait for the cooks to tell us we can come in," Hayley led the group in singing a song complete with hand motions. When the song was finished, they were signaled that the cooks were ready.

"The cabin with the straightest line will go in first," Hayley said. "Make your lines as straight as possible."

The kids all tried to make their lines straight, Jessica's cabin was chosen as the winner and they went in and picked where they wanted to sit first. Soon all the other kids followed.

"There are a few rules we need to go over," Brett stood on a chair, so all the kids could see him.

"Number 1: if you put it on your plate, you have to eat it."

"Number 2: you'll see you have food in the middle of each table, if you are the one who takes the last of the food for your table, you have to go to the kitchen and get more for your table."

"Number 3: when you are done, you will take your dishes to the kitchen and then go back to your seat."

"Number 4: Every Wednesday we will hand out mail from home, for every letter you receive, you will have to come up and kiss the moose. Brett pointed to a moose head that hung high on the wall. "If you receive a package, you will have to kiss the moose three times."

"I'm not going to have to do that," Annie told her table. "I told my parents not to send me mail."

"Alright everyone, that's it for the rules, dig in."

* * *

"Good night, Manda Panda, Mommy loves you," Blair said as she shut the lights out. Blair blew a kiss and shut the door.

Jo was sitting in a chair in the bedroom waiting for Blair to put Amanda to bed.

"OK Jo, I can't decide what to wear to the funeral," Blair held up two black dresses.

Jo covered her eyes and pointed randomly.

"Jo, you're not taking this seriously," Blair said frustrated.

"Blair, they're both fine, they almost look the same."

"Well, since you think they're both fine, you can wear this one," Blair shoved the fancier one at Jo.

"WHAT? NO!"

"Shh, the baby is sleeping."

"Sorry," Jo whispered. "I'm not wearing a dress."

"Yes, you are," Blair stuck her lower lip out and pouted.

"Fine, but I'm wearing the other one," Jo grabbed the less fancier of the two dresses as Blair grinned.

* * *

Later that night, everybody sat around the campfire. Brett sat in the middle of the group.

"Who wants to hear the story of why this camp is called Camp Frozen Lake?"

"ME!" everyone shouted.

_About fifty years ago, this camp used to be called Camp Crystal Lake and they used to have camp during winter break. There was a young female counselor that was in Wolf cabin and she was kind of a loner. Everyone called her the princess, because she was afraid to get dirty, and no one actually knew her name._

_One night she woke up and left her cabin in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. Since she was a counselor, she didn't have to bring a buddy. They say she never made it back to her cabin._

"Do you know why?" Brett asked Tisha.

Tisha shook her head, "No, why?" she asked shaking.

"Well the bathroom's at the time were close to the lake," Brett pointed towards the lake at some bricks sticking out of the ground forming the corner of a wall, "they are torn down now, but there are still pieces of them left."

_It is said that the young counselor ran into a wolf that night. The wolf pounced on her and dragged her across the frozen lake, but the ice on the lake was too weak to hold them and it cracked beneath them. Both of them fell into the icy water and drowned._

_The next morning they found her and the wolf's body frozen solid in the lake. Now when anyone talks about her, they call her "The Ice Princess." Now every full moon, the lake freezes after midnight, even in the summer._

"…and they say that during a full moon you can still see her ghost walking to the bathroom." Brett finished the story. "Alright, it's time to go to bed. Everyone head to your cabins, bed check and lights out in fifteen minutes."

"I'm too scared to go to sleep," Tisha said.

Tisha, it's just a story," Annie said. "They tell it every year and nothing's ever happened."

"Well, you're right," Tisha stood up and looked Annie right in the face, "nothing's happened…yet."

* * *

Annie put her pajama's on and grabbed some stationary from her bag before she climbed up to her bunk. '_The Ice Princess was here'_ was carved on the wall, next to Annie's head.

"Lights out in ten minutes," Katie told them.

Annie started writing on her stationary.

_Hey Mom, _

_Camp is great, I'm having fun._

_Love, Annie_

Annie folded the paper and put it in an envelope and wrote her address on it. Annie pulled another piece of paper out and began writing on it.

_Aunt Blair,_

_I think I'm in love…_


	2. Nighttime Mischief

Chapter 2

July 7th, 1997

The next morning everybody was in the mess hall for breakfast.

"Annie, you never told us what you have planned this year." Kelsey put two slices of bacon on her plate.

"You'll see, soon."

"Who are you picking on this year?" Jamie asked.

"Well, I can't pick on Scott anymore, so I decided to go with Katie." Annie grabbed a big spoonful of eggs from the bowl in the middle of the table and put them on her plate.

"But she's your counselor," Kelsey said. "If you pick on her, you'll get kicked out of the camp."

"I don't think so. They get paid extra to keep me."

"When do we get to see what you're doing?" Jamie asked. Jamie finished her milk and it gave her a mustache.

Annie smiled mischievously, "Tonight."

"I can't wait to see," Kelsey said. Kelsey noticed that someone was missing from their group, "Where's Tisha?"

"I haven't seen her since last night." Jamie wiped her face with her sleeve.

"Jamie, use a napkin. Stop acting like a barbarian."

"I'd rather act like a barbarian than a princess."

* * *

Across the mess hall, the female counselors were eating.

"So Leah, how's it going with your kids so far?" Jessica asked.

"I haven't had any incidents yet, but we haven't done anything yet except the climbing wall and all of my kids had fun." Leah took a bite of her eggs.

"I haven't really had any problems either," Hayley said.

"What about the bed wetter?" Jessica asked.

"If she wet the bed, she took care of it herself." Hayley took the last of the bacon. She left the table to refill the plate.

"Hey Rookie, you've been quiet, how's it going with Annie Robinson?" Leah asked.

Katie moved eggs around her plate with her fork. "She hasn't done anything. I haven't had any problems with her at all."

"Oh, but you will. It's only a matter of time." Hayley put a new plate of bacon on the table and sat down.

"My kids are great, we're going canoeing with your cabin today," Jessica said to Leah.

* * *

Jamie and Kelsey were standing out by the lake with their cabin mates listening to instructions before they could start canoeing.

"Everyone needs a partner and a life jacket," the instructor said.

Jamie grabbed Kelsey's hand. "You're my partner."

Jamie pulled Kelsey over to the life jackets and picked one up for each of them.

"I hear there are snakes in the lake," Jamie said.

"Jamie, stop it! I'm not going in the lake." Kelsey said. Kelsey put her life jacket on.

"You are, if I tip our canoe over," Jamie said.

Kelsey gasped. "You wouldn't dare!"

"How do you know?"

"You would get all wet and you would have to change your clothes," Kelsey said.

"I don't care if I get wet. It would be worth it to see you in the water swimming with the snakes. If a snake happens to swim in your underwear, that's bonus points."

"I don't want to be your partner anymore," Kelsey said.

"It's too late, Blondie." Jamie said. Jamie pulled Kelsey towards a canoe.

Kelsey screamed. "Leah!"

Leah ran over to Jamie and Kelsey. "What is going on here?"

"Jamie's going to tip our canoe over."

"I'm sure she's not and if she does, it's not that big of a deal."

Kelsey stomped her foot on the ground. "You don't understand. I can't get my hair wet."

"You'll be fine, Kelsey." Leah said. Leah rolled her eyes as she walked away.

Jamie and Kelsey got in the canoe and Jamie started paddling. Kelsey wasn't helping, so all they managed to do was go around in a circle.

"Kelsey, you have to help or we'll just be stuck going around in a circle."

"I can't paddle, I'll break a nail."

"You don't need your nails at camp, loosen up and get dirty."

Kelsey picked up the oar and dipped it in the water with one hand and tried to push the water back.

"What are you doing? That's not going to work. Use both hands and put some muscle into it." Jamie said. Jamie demonstrated how to paddle.

Soon they made it out to the middle of the lake. Jamie started rocking the canoe.

"Jamie, stop!" Kelsey started crying. "I don't want to go in the lake."

"Jamie, that's enough! Stop teasing Kelsey." Jessica said from another canoe next to them.

"Fine, I'll stop," Jamie said. "I'll stop _for now_."

* * *

Blair, Jo, Tad, and Rick walked in the door. They had just gotten back from Jordan's funeral. Natalie and Tootie were sitting on the couch.

"Hey Nat, where's Mrs. G?"

"She's in the kitchen, she's on the phone," Natalie said.

"With her lov-er," Tootie said.

"Tootie!" Natalie said.

"I'm glad she gets time to talk to Bruce, she really misses him," Jo said.

"Mrs. Garrett never really told us why she came back and he didn't, it's obvious they still love each other, I mean they are still married," Tootie said.

Blair looked down at the floor and started playing with her bracelet, "It's my fault."

Tad walked over to Blair and tilted her head up to look at him, so he could look her in the eye. "Blair, what happened is not your fault?"

Blair broke eye contact with Tad and turned towards the other girls. "Mrs. Garrett doesn't talk about it, because she doesn't want to upset me."

"Is this about Kelsey's twin dying?" Jo asked.

Blair nodded and played with the charms on her bracelet.

"Mrs. Garrett told us about that before we found you, but she didn't tell us the whole story," Natalie said.

"Yeah, she told us she was with you after it happened, but she never told us that's why she left the Peace Corps." Tootie said. Tootie put the magazine she was reading down on the table.

"I don't really want to talk about it guys, I feel awful that she had to leave Bruce behind to take care of me," Blair said.

"She must really love you," Tootie said.

"Of course she does, she's Mrs. G," Jo said. "Don't feel bad, I'm sure she would've done the same thing for any one of us."

"Yeah well, I'm going upstairs to change." Blair said. Blair turned around and walked up the stairs.

"Yeah, I better go get out of this dress too," Jo said. Jo scratched her neck. "I don't know how Blair wears these dresses all the time. They are so itchy."

They heard a squeal in the kitchen and the sound of feet rushing into the living room. Mrs. Garrett appeared a few seconds later.

"Guess what? Bruce is coming home!" Mrs. Garrett said. Mrs. Garrett grabbed Rick and danced around the living room with him.

"That's great Mrs. Garrett," Natalie said.

"Yeah, when is he coming home?" Tootie asked.

"In four weeks," Mrs. Garrett said. "Then we are going on a two week cruise to the Bahamas."

"That's wonderful, Mrs. G," Jo said. "Is he coming home for good?"

"Yes, I'm so excited. Oh my, I have to call my travel agent," Mrs. Garrett said.

* * *

Later that night, everyone was asleep. Annie heard Katie get up. Katie turned the light on. Everybody in the cabin woke up.

"What's going on?" Missy asked.

"Who turned on the light?" Beth asked. Beth covered her eyes with her sleeping bag.

"I was sleeping," Mary said.

"Yeah, turn the light off," Annie said.

"Which one of you put itching powder in my sleeping bag?" Katie asked. Katie scratched her legs.

Missy rolled over in her bunk and faced Katie, "Where would we get itching powder?"

"Yeah, turn the light off, so we can sleep." Annie rolled over and faced the wall. "We have to be up at six."

"Alright, but you better go back to sleep." Katie grabbed a change of clothes and a towel. "I'm going to go take a shower."

Katie turned the lights out and left the cabin.

"Good job, Annie," Mary said.

"Thanks, but that's only phase one." Annie climbed down from her bunk and put her shoes on.

"Where are you going?" Missy asked.

"I'm going to go do phase two." Annie grabbed a flashlight. "I'll be back soon." Annie left the cabin and went out into the night.

* * *

Annie walked into the bathroom and spotted Katie's clothes and towel on a nearby bench.

"Perfect." Annie snatched the towel and clothes from the bench. "Now it's time for phase three."

Annie walked out of the bathroom and looked at the 'girls' sign on the door. Annie slid it out easily and turned it over to the other side that said 'boys.' Annie slid the sign back into position. Annie smirked, "you're in the wrong bathroom now."

Annie walked away from the bathroom to complete the next phase of her plan.

* * *

Blair was sitting and reading a book. She stopped and looked at her surroundings. She was sitting in the first class cabin of a commercial airplane.

A stewardess walked past her and she grabbed her arm.

"Yes, Mrs. Warner-Warner, do you need something?"

"May I have a glass of juice?" Blair asked.

"I'll get that for you right away."

Blair looked at the seat next to her. Tad was sitting there listening to music with a pair of headphones. He looked over and smiled at her. She smiled back at him. The stewardess brought Blair her juice and left to attend to the other passengers. Blair sipped her juice and went back to her book.

Blair was finishing chapter seventeen when turbulence jolted her eyes away from the page. She looked over at Tad and he gave her a reassuring smile and patted her leg.

"It's OK, it's just a little turbulence," he said.

Blair nodded and went back to her book. A few minutes went by and Blair put her book down and got up from her seat, "be right back."

Blair walked towards the bathroom. Blair lost her balance as the plane hit another patch of turbulence, she fell in the aisle. The plane nosedived and the oxygen masks came down.

Blair screamed.

Blair heard Tad's voice in the distance.

"Blair, wake up!"

Tad was shaking her, "wake up, you're having a nightmare."

Blair bolted upright in bed and tried to catch her breath. Tad turned the light on and saw tears running down her face. The door to the bedroom opened and Mrs. Garrett walked in.

"Sweetheart, are you alright? I heard screaming."

"She just had a nightmare. I'll take care of it. You can go back to bed." Tad said. Tad got out of bed, went into the bathroom and came back with a glass of water.

Mrs. Garrett was worried, but she went back to her room anyway.

Tad handed Blair the glass of water.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Blair took the glass of water and shook her head. "I don't remember it."

Tad could tell that Blair wasn't being truthful.

"It was the plane crash again, wasn't it?"

* * *

Annie was on the boy's side of camp. She had one more thing to do before she went back to her cabin. Annie ran up to the bathroom and slid the sign out of the door. Annie flipped it over and slid it back in. She had now fully switched the boys and girl's bathrooms around. Annie looked towards the mess hall and admired her handiwork from afar. Satisfied Annie started walking back towards her cabin.

Annie wasn't more than fifty feet away from the bathroom when she heard rustling. Annie turned her flashlight on and pointed towards the bushes.

"Who's there?"

There was no answer.

Annie looked towards the lake at the dilapidated remains of the old bathroom from fifty years ago. _"That story isn't real. It's just a story they tell us to scare us. The ice princess never existed."_

The sound of a twig breaking startled Annie from her thoughts. She shined the flashlight beam in the direction of the lake.

* * *

Missy was awake in her bunk, she couldn't sleep. Annie hadn't come back yet.

"Psst, Mary, are you awake?" she asked.

Mary rolled over in her bunk. "What's wrong?"

"I'm worried, Annie hasn't come back yet," Missy said.

"She hasn't?" Mary asked.

"No, I think something must have happened to her," Missy said.

"You don't think the ice princess got her, do you?" Beth asked. Beth sat up in her bunk, having heard the entire conversation.

"No Beth, I'm pretty sure that's just a story and she ain't real," Mary said. "But Annie should've taken one of us with her. We're supposed to bring a buddy if we leave the cabin."

"Well you know Annie. Rules are meant to be broken." Beth said. Beth looked at Katie's bunk. "Katie never came back either."

Mary heard rustling in the grass outside. "Shh, someone's coming."

The girls all lay back down in their bunks and pretended to be sleeping. The door creaked open and someone came in. Beth heard the sound of shoes hitting the floor and she opened one eye to peek at the person who came in.

"Annie, we were worried the ice princess got you," Beth said.

Annie jumped out of her skin. "Beth, I didn't know you were awake. You scared the crap out of me."

"Sorry, what took so long?" she asked.

"I had to walk over to the boy's side of camp." Annie said. Annie climbed up to her bunk.

"Why?" Missy asked.

"You'll see in the morning. The only thing I'll tell you is that I switched the signs on the bathrooms, so you'll have to go to the boy's side to use the girl's bathroom."

"That's good to know," Mary said. "Where's Katie?"

"She didn't come back yet?" Annie asked. Annie rolled over in her bunk and faced the wall, she smiled mischievously. "That's weird."

* * *

In the morning Missy, Beth, Mary, and Annie woke up.

"Where's Katie?" Missy asked. "Didn't she come back?"

"Guess not," Annie answered. The bell rang for breakfast, "we better go to the mess hall."

"We're going to the bathroom first," Missy said.

"Well the new girl's bathroom is on the way to the mess hall," Annie said. "Let's go, we only have a few minutes before we have to be in line."

* * *

"I have to go to the bathroom real bad," Tisha cried as she ran towards the bathroom.

"Hey Tisha," Serena called. "That's the boy's bathroom."

"Wasn't it the girl's bathroom before?" Tisha squirmed and hopped from foot to foot.

Kelly shrugged her shoulders, "it's the boy's bathroom now."

"Let's go find the girl's bathroom," Hayley said grabbing Elsie's free hand. "Come on, Elsie."

* * *

Brett walked into the bathroom.

"Who's there?" Katie called from a stall.

"Katie, is that you? What are you doing in the boy's bathroom?"

"This is the girl's bathroom," Katie said.

"Not anymore, it says 'boys' outside on the door."

"OK, look could you do me a favor?"

"What?"

"Get me some clothes," Katie said. "It's a long story and I'm not really sure how it happened, but I think it had something to do with…"

"Annie," Brett said.

"Yeah, I think Annie is responsible for this. Now could you please go and get me some clothes."

* * *

Katie and Brett came out of the bathroom and started walking towards the mess hall. Brett pointed to the flagpole, "Hey, is that your underwear?"

Katie covered her face when she saw that her pink panties were high in the sky, flapping in the wind.


	3. Perfect Rainbow

Chapter 3

July 8th, 1997

Jamie, Annie, Ashley, Hannah, Missy, and Beth were sitting around a table in the mess hall during breakfast.

"Annie, I can't believe you did that," Missy said. "It's probably the best prank yet."

"Don't tell anyone it was me," Annie said. "If you do, you'll regret it. I know where you sleep."

"I won't tell anyone, I pinky swear," Missy said. Missy held her pinky out to Annie.

Annie grabbed Missy's pinky with hers. "That goes for the rest of you too, no one likes a snitch."

"Isn't your mom going to be mad?" Jamie asked. Jamie cut her pancakes with her fork.

"She told me not to get into any fights. She didn't say anything about a few little pranks. Besides you're keeping your mouth shut anyway."

* * *

Brett and Katie were walking towards the mess hall.

"And last year she snuck into my cabin and painted everybody's fingernails with hot pink nail polish, while we were sleeping. The worst thing about it was that it glowed in the dark."

"How long did you have to walk around like that?" Katie asked.

"My nails were painted until I got home. The good thing was it was the last week of camp. It was really embarrassing having to ask my mom how to use nail polish remover."

"So, you went a whole week with pink nails?" Katie asked.

"Yeah, this year the boys and I want to get a little revenge." Brett opened the door to the mess hall and let Katie go in first.

"How are you going to get revenge?" Katie saw Annie and her friends sitting at the table in the corner of the mess hall.

"I'm glad you asked, because we're going to need your help."

"What can I do?"

"Come sit with me and I'll explain."

* * *

Leah, Jessica, and Hayley were sitting at a table eating breakfast. They looked over at Katie and Brett's table.

"Looks like Katie and Brett are getting pretty close," Jessica said. Jessica observed Katie and Brett whispering to each other.

"I think they are cute." Leah said. Leah took a sip of her orange juice.

"Where do you think they were this morning? They missed the lineup."

"I don't know. I just want to know why the bathrooms were switched around. My kids almost didn't make it to the bathroom this morning." Hayley said. Hayley poured syrup on her pancakes.

"I don't know, but I bet it had something to do with Annie. Did you notice the flagpole this morning?" Jessica asked.

"Ooh, I bet Annie did something to Katie. I heard Brett talking earlier about getting revenge on Annie for what she did to his cabin last year," Leah said.

"There's an awful lot of whispering going on over there," Hayley said. "I bet our little rookie is in on Brett's revenge plans."

* * *

Jo, Natalie, and Tootie were having breakfast at the house before they left town. Natalie was leaving in a few hours to start her nationwide book tour. Tootie was leaving for the city to shoot her TV pilot, but she would be back in a few days. Jo and Rick were going on vacation for a few weeks. Mrs. Garrett had made waffles and eggs for everyone.

"Hey Mrs. Garrett, you never told us the story of why you came home without Bruce. I mean we know some of it, but not the whole story," Tootie said.

"Tootie, she doesn't like to talk about it?" Jo said.

"Blair's not in the room, I want to hear the story," Tootie said.

Blair came down the kitchen stairs, her eyes were red and puffy and she had bags under her eyes. Her hair was a mess and she was still wearing her silk pajamas. She didn't look the part of the perfect, flawless beauty that the others were used too. They had all seen what Blair looked like when she woke up in the morning, but it was never like this.

"Looks like Princess Blair fell off the wrong side of the bed this morning," Jo said.

Blair grabbed a cup of coffee and glared at Jo.

"I heard what you guys were talking about. Mrs. Garrett, you can tell them, it's alright."

"Are you sure, Sweetheart?" Mrs. Garrett said.

Blair nodded and sat down at the table. She put a waffle on her plate and drowned it in syrup.

"Well, alright." Mrs. Garrett refilled her coffee cup and sat at the table.

"Bruce and I had just finished our commitment to the Peace Corps, but we had decided to stay in Africa and help raise funds for a new hospital. I remember it was late January and I was on the phone with Blair and she was so excited about the upcoming birth of her twins."

_January 29th, 1989_

"_I'm so excited, Tad and I finished the nursery and it's so cute."_

"_I'm so happy for you, Darling. Now when are they due?"_

"_My due date is March 8th, but you know twins usually come early."_

"_I can't wait to see pictures."_

"_I'll make sure I send pictures, after they are born. Maybe I'll make you a scrapbook."_

"_OK Sweetheart, I have to go now, you call me when they are born and tell me all about them."_

"_Oh I will. Bye Mrs. Garrett."_

_A week later - February 5th, 1989_

_Mrs. Garrett answered the phone. There was a male voice on the other end and he was sobbing. Mrs. Garrett was confused._

"_Who am I speaking to?" _

_The man on the other end tried to pull himself together to speak._

"_I'm sorry to bother you. It's Tad Warner, Blair's husband."_

"_Tad, what happened? What's wrong?"_

"_I didn't know who else to call."_

"_Honey, what's the matter?"_

_All Mrs. Garrett heard was sobbing on the other end._

"_Tad, did something happen to Blair or the babies?"_

"_Blair went into labor a few days ago and one of the babies…" Tad choked. "She didn't make it."_

_Mrs. Garrett sat down._

"_Oh Tad, I'm so sorry. What happened?"_

"_The baby wasn't breathing. They took her out of the room. Then the doctor told us she died. Blair is distraught, she won't talk to me. She just stays in bed all day. I don't know what to do."_

"_Where are her parents?"_

"_They were here after the babies came, but her father left for Tokyo and her mother left for Paris this morning."_

"_What? I don't believe this, well actually I do. Blair's parents have never really been very good parents."_

"_I just need some advice on how to help her. She won't touch our other baby. I don't know what to do."_

"_Listen Tad, I'm going to talk to Bruce and I'm going to come and help you."_

"_No, you don't have to do that."_

"_Tad, I want to. She needs a mother to take care of her."_

_A few minutes later, Mrs. Garret hung up the phone and went looking for Bruce._

_Mrs. Garrett found Bruce working outside._

"_Bruce, I need to talk to you."_

"_What is it, Dear?"_

"_Blair needs me. One of the babies didn't survive."_

"_That's terrible, Edna. I understand if you want to go back to the states, but I promised them I'd stick around and help raise money for the new hospital."_

"_I know the hospital project is important to you."_

"_And I know that your girls are important to you, so you go take care of Blair."_

_A couple days later Mrs. Garrett and Bruce said their "goodbyes"," I love you", and "see you later," but neither knew how much later it would be before they saw each other again._

"That's such a sad story, Mrs. Garrett." Tootie said. Tootie wiped her eyes. "At least my parents were around when Jeff and I almost lost Tisha."

"You almost lost Tisha?" Jo asked. "You never told us that?"

"You guys weren't around back then. I was in London at the time, Natalie was living in Soho, Jo had moved to Los Angeles, and Blair had just bought Eastland."

"Wait a minute, you never told us you were pregnant before you got married," Natalie said. "I'm your best friend and you didn't tell me."

"I'm sorry, Nat. I guess I was just embarrassed. After you told us you and Snake had done it, Jeff and I felt that we could do it too. I mean we were already engaged, so we just did it. Then a few weeks later I found out I was pregnant. That's why we moved the wedding up, and you would've figured it out if you had done the math."

"I'm sorry, Tootie." Natalie hugged her. "So what happened? How did you almost lose Tisha?"

"She was born three months premature, but that's a story for another time." Tootie said. "I have to get going to the city."

* * *

Later Jamie, Annie and their cabin mates were horseback riding. Annie and Jamie were riding side by side.

"Annie, did Kelsey break her arm?" Jamie asked.

"No, she was faking, remember?" Annie was riding a black horse named Midnight.

"No, I mean here at camp?"

"I don't think so, why?"

"Well, I thought I saw her this morning with a broken arm. I called her name, but she didn't turn around or look." Jamie pulled the reigns to the right, so that Patches, the black and white horse she was riding would walk around a log on the trail.

"That's weird. We'll have to find her during lunch."

"We'll have to find Tisha too," Jamie said. "I haven't seen her in a while."

"Yeah, I haven't seen her since the campfire on the first night. I hope she didn't chicken out and go home."

Annie and Jamie heard the girls behind them making noises as if they were disgusted.

Jamie turned around, "what's the matter?"

"Annie's horse is pooping!"

* * *

A few hours later, Blair was in the living room alone. Jo, Natalie, and Tootie had all left town to do their own things. Amanda was taking a nap upstairs and Mrs. Garrett was in the kitchen.

Blair sat on the floor between the couch and the coffee table. She opened a drawer in the coffee table and pulled out her old coloring book that Natalie had made Annie get for her years ago.

Blair leafed through the pages and saw various pictures. The beginning ones were scribbled on. The pictures in the middle were poor attempts to stay in the lines. The last ones were better attempts, but none of them were perfect. It was like looking at a preschooler's progress, but every page had been colored by her when she was over the age of twenty-nine.

Blair flipped to the last page and found that it hadn't been colored yet and that it was the only page that was left to color. She went back in the drawer and took out a box of crayons.

The last picture in her book was a rainbow. Blair pulled out the appropriate colors and started coloring, being very careful to stay in the lines.

While Blair was working on her coloring page, Mrs. Garrett came in and set a plate down next to her.

"Sweetheart, I noticed you skipped lunch today. I thought you might be hungry, so I made you a sandwich."

Blair glanced over at the sandwich. It was a turkey club and was cut into the shape of a heart.

"I cut the crust off for you. I know you don't like it."

"Thanks, Mrs. Garrett."

Blair finished her coloring page and gave Mrs. Garrett the book.

"I finished my book."

Mrs. Garrett flipped through the book and saw Blair's progress. The last page was perfect.

"Have I ever told you how proud I am of you?"

Blair blushed and bit into her sandwich.

"I really am very proud of you. You beat the odds when the doctors were skeptical."

Blair got up off the floor and sat next to Mrs. Garrett on the couch.

"Did you really think I was going to let myself depend on you guys for everything, for the rest of my life?"

"Never, I knew you would get back on your feet."

"I never wanted to be a burden to you." Blair looked down at her lap with tears in her eyes.

Mrs. Garrett grabbed Blair's face and tilted her head up and looked her in the eye.

"You were never a burden, you're my girl, one of my daughters I thought I would never have."

Mrs. Garrett hugged Blair, who was crying by now.

"I'm sorry you had to leave Bruce behind in Africa."

"Don't be, I never blamed you for that. It's ok, he's coming home now."

Blair let go of Mrs. Garrett's embrace. Mrs. Garrett took a look at Blair's tired eyes.

"Honey, you should go take your nap soon."

"I think I'm going to skip it today."

"Sweetheart, you can't stay awake forever. You haven't been sleeping very well lately. How long have the nightmares been going on?"

"I've been having them for a few weeks."

"What are they about?"

"I'm on the plane, usually I wake up before it gets intense, but this time I got to the part where the plane starts falling. It's really terrifying."

Mrs. Garrett pulled Blair into her arms and let her cry.

"Honey, I'm so sorry I ever encouraged you and Tad to take that trip. This is my fault."

Blair pulled away and made eye contact with Mrs. Garrett.

"No, no, no I don't blame you. There was no way you could've known that the plane would crash. We're fine now and we're all together."

"Sweetheart, you're not fine. I think you need to talk to someone about these nightmares. I'm worried about you."

"Talk to someone? You mean like a therapist?"

Mrs. Garrett nodded.

"I have you to talk to. You've always helped me with my problems."

"Honey, I think this one is out of my league. I think you need to talk to a professional who is trained to deal with this."

"You're right. I'll find a therapist to talk to. I promise."

* * *

At lunch, Annie and Jamie found Kelsey.

"See, no broken arm. You must have been dreaming," Annie told Jamie.

"What are you guys talking about?" Kelsey asked.

"Jamie thinks you broke your arm, and I told her you were just faking."

Kelsey glared at Annie, "I was not faking, my arm really hurt. It was really bad."

"Whatever," Annie said. Annie bit into her peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

"I'm really glad you didn't break your arm, I was worried I wouldn't be able to push you in the lake," Jamie said.

"Stop it, Jamie! I'm not going in the lake."

"You scared of the leeches?" Jamie asked. Jamie started teasing Kelsey. "They grab onto your skin and suck your blood."

Kelsey screamed and covered her ears with her hands. "Stop it, that's gross!"

"Alright you two, enough," Annie said. "Kelsey, have you seen Tisha anywhere?"

"She's coming over here right now," Kelsey said.

Tisha ran over to the table and sat down. Tisha tried to catch her breath, before she spoke.

"I have to tell you guys something. At first I didn't think anything of it, but there's this girl in my cabin who looks just like Kelsey." Tisha poured herself some juice.

"Me?" Kelsey asked.

"Yes, you," Tisha said. "Her name is Elsie Philips."

"Does she have a broken arm?" Jamie asked.

"Yes, she told me she broke it on the fourth of July."

"See Annie, I wasn't dreaming. I must have seen this other girl," Jamie said.

"Kelsey, she looks exactly like you, except her hair is quite a bit shorter," Tisha said. "She could be your twin."


	4. What Happened to Billy

Chapter 4

Natalie was at a library in New York City. This was the first stop on her book tour. It had quite a good turnout. The line for autographs was out the door.

A copy of her book was placed in front of her. Natalie opened it and looked at the blonde woman standing in front of her.

"Who should I make this out to?"

"Sue Ann." The woman said.

"Sue Ann Weaver!" Natalie stood up and walked around the table.

"I barely recognized you. I haven't seen you in over ten years. What are you doing here?"

Natalie and Sue Ann hugged.

"Well I read your book and I heard you were going to be in town, so I took the day off to come see you," Sue Ann said.

"I'm glad you did. What have you been up to since I last saw you?"

"Well, I'm the editor of a fashion magazine. Have you ever heard of _Shae Allorn_?

"I think Blair might read that," Natalie said.

"I read about all that Blair's been through. How is she doing now?"

"She's been doing well. She's back to her old self. She's driving Jo nuts and getting into fights with people over whether or not the kids should wear cotton. You know the usual."

"Yeah, that sounds like Blair," Sue Ann said.

"So, what about you, are you married? Do you have any kids?" Natalie asked. Natalie played with the pen in her hand.

"No, I've had several boyfriends, but I haven't met the right one yet."

"You'll find him someday," Natalie said. "I've got a husband and a ten year old daughter."

"A ten year old, that means…"

Natalie cut her off, "she's adopted. Snake and I couldn't get pregnant."

"Your husband's name is Snake?"

"It's a lot cooler than his real name, trust me. Snake's a sweetheart, don't let the name fool you."

"What does he do?"

"He's a truck driver. He's driving to California right now."

Natalie noticed the people in line were getting restless.

"So what about Tootie and Jo? What have they been up to?" Sue Ann asked.

"Both of them are married, Tootie is filming a pilot for a TV show and Jo is a cop with the Peekskill Police Department. They each have a daughter."

"And Blair has a daughter?" Sue Ann asked.

"Blair has two children, she adopted a baby recently."

"I guess she has her hands full, huh?"

The people in line behind Sue Ann were getting tired.

"Yeah, but we all help out. We're like one big happy family."

"That must be nice." Sue Ann said with sadness in her voice.

"Yeah well, I'm going to have to move the line along now. There are a lot of people waiting. It was really nice seeing you again."

Natalie signed Sue Ann's book and sent her on her way.

The next person came up and handed Natalie her book. If they were agitated they didn't say anything. Natalie just took the book and signed it in the inside cover. She handed the book back with a smile.

* * *

"Well, where is she?" Kelsey asked. "I need to see her for myself."

Tisha stood up from the table, "I'll go find her."

"Wouldn't I know if I had a twin?" Kelsey pulled the crust off of her sandwich.

"I would think so," Jamie said.

"It makes sense. Tisha said Elsie broke her arm the same day my arm hurt and I went to the hospital."

"Maybe you really are twins," Annie said. "I've read that twins have a special connection to each other."

"What kind of connection?" Jamie asked.

"Well, they can feel each other's feelings," Annie said. "They know when the other is hurt or sad, things like that."

"Maybe I felt Elsie's pain when she broke her arm," Kelsey said.

"We haven't even seen her yet. Let's make sure she's your twin before we get too carried away with this," Annie said.

Tisha came back with Elsie, "well, here she is."

"Whoa! She looks exactly like you," Annie said.

Kelsey stood up from her chair and walked over to Elsie. Kelsey and Elsie stared at each other in disbelief. Kelsey reached out and touched Elsie hesitantly and then pulled her hand back quickly.

"You have my face," Elsie said.

"And you have mine," Kelsey said.

"It's like looking in a mirror," Elsie said.

"This can't be real. Do you really think we could be twins?" Kelsey asked.

"When's your birthday?"

"February 3rd."

"Mine too."

"Well it looks like you two are twins," Annie said. "Now the question is, which one of you is the evil twin?"

"Annie, can't you be nice for one second?" Tisha asked. "Neither of them is evil."

"Everybody knows that in all sets of twins there's an evil one," Annie said.

"That's not true, Annie," Jamie said.

"Don't mind her," Tisha said to Elsie. "She's always been a big meanie."

Jamie burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Tisha asked.

"Kelsey and Elsie," Jamie laughed. "You two have rhyming names."

"Hey, it's not like it was on purpose, we were named by different parents," Kelsey said.

"How do you know your parents didn't name her, before they gave her away?" Annie asked.

Kelsey got angry and yelled at Annie with tears streaming down her face. "My mommy and daddy wouldn't give my sister away. I know they wouldn't. Something else must have happened."

"How do you know? My birth mother named me, before she gave me away and so did Amanda's," Annie said.

Elsie ran away from the group and Tisha ran after her.

Jamie saw tears running down Kelsey's face, "Annie stop it, leave them alone, can't you see they are upset?"

Annie watched Jamie take Kelsey's hand and pull her away. Jamie told the counselors something that Annie couldn't hear and then pulled Kelsey out the doors of the mess hall.

* * *

Leah ran up to Jessica and Hayley.

"Was that one of my kids that left just now?"

"Yeah, Jamie said she was taking her to the bathroom," Jessica said.

"What's going on?" Leah asked.

"I don't know, Kelsey probably got dirty or something," Hayley said. Hayley drank the rest of her juice.

"We'll just let them work it out and you can go check on them in a few minutes," Jessica said. "They are probably fine."

"Two of your kids just ran out of here too," Leah told Hayley.

"Who ran out of here? No one came and asked if they could go anywhere," Hayley said.

"Tisha and Elsie," Leah answered.

Hayley stood up from the table, "I'll go look for them, they know better."

Hayley ran out of the mess hall and Jessica turned to Leah. "Don't you think it's weird?"

"What?"

"That Kelsey Warner and Elsie Philips look almost exactly alike?"

Leah thought for a moment, "I didn't notice, until you said something, but you're right. If Elsie's hair was a few inches longer and she wasn't wearing a cast, they would look exactly like…"

"Identical twins," Jessica said.

"Do you think they know, and that's why they ran out of here?" Leah asked.

"Could be, I did see them together."

"I think maybe I better go check on Kelsey and Jamie now." Leah got up and walked towards the door.

_I thought things like this only happened in the movies._ Jessica watched Leah leave the mess hall.

* * *

Jamie and Kelsey were sitting on a bench outside the girl's bathroom. Kelsey was blowing her nose with a wad of toilet paper.

"What if Annie's right? What if my mom gave Elsie away?"

"Don't listen to Annie. You know she's just mean sometimes. She shouldn't have said that."

"What if it's true though?" Kelsey asked. Kelsey sniffed and Jamie went in the bathroom to get more toilet paper. Jamie came back out and sat next to Kelsey and handed the toilet paper to her.

"Kelsey, I don't think your mom would give your sister away. I'm sure something else happened."

"Like what?"

"Maybe there was a mistake at the hospital, or maybe Elsie was kidnapped." Jamie picked up a stick and started drawing lines in the dirt.

"I'm scared, Jamie. I don't want to be separated from her again."

"I'm sure everything will work out, stop worrying right now and enjoy the rest of camp and your parents can work it out when we get home." Jamie spotted Leah walking towards them. "We have to get back to the mess hall now, I'm sure it will be okay."

Leah walked up to Jamie and Kelsey. "Is everything okay here?"

"Yeah, we're cool," Jamie said.

"Great, I want you two back at the mess hall in two minutes." Leah turned around and headed back.

"Are you okay now, are you ready to go back?" Jamie asked.

Kelsey nodded and stood up, she threw the wad of toilet paper in the trash can, "I'm going to wash my face and hands first."

"Okay," Jamie said as Kelsey walked into the bathroom. Jamie followed her in and stood by the door. "Oh, and don't think me comforting you changes anything, you're still going in the lake."

* * *

Elsie had run all the way back to Chipmunk cabin, she and Tisha were sitting on her bottom bunk. Elsie was still crying and her nose was running.

"Don't listen to everything Annie says. She doesn't know everything." Tisha said.

"I just want to go home," Elsie said. Fresh tears dripped down her face. "I want my mom."

"I miss my mom too, but I'm not leaving. I'm having fun now. I don't want you to leave. We're having fun together, right?"

"Yeah, I had fun with you."

"Don't you want to get to know Kelsey? She might be your twin sister. If you leave now, you'll never get to know her and you'll be separated again."

"I know. I do want to know her. Something weird happened when she touched me, I got shocked or something." Elsie grabbed her pillow, pulled it to her chest and wrapped her arms around it as best she could with a cast on.

"That's probably because you two belong together."

"And I remembered something, I was a baby and I was with her and it was dark. I could hear someone singing."

"What were they singing?"

"I don't know what it was. I never heard the song before."

Tisha and Elsie heard footsteps approaching the cabin. Hayley opened the door and came in.

Tisha remembered that they hadn't told anyone where they were going. "We are in trou-ble."

"You girls didn't ask if you could leave the mess hall, you know the rules," Hayley said.

"We're sorry," Tisha said. "Annie made her cry and she just ran out and I'm her buddy, I forgot to tell you."

"Do you girls know why we have these rules at camp?" Hayley asked.

They both nodded.

"Tell me, I want to see if you were listening."

"Because this is a wooded area and there are bears." Elsie said. Elsie hugged her pillow tighter.

"And we don't want to end up like Billy," Tisha said.

"We need to know where you are at all times, do you girls understand?"

"Yes Hayley, we're sorry," Elsie said.

"Let's go back to the mess hall." Hayley said. Hayley turned around and motioned for them to follow.

Tisha and Elsie stood up and followed Hayley outside.

* * *

Brett and Katie were still sitting at the table with the boys going over details of their plan.

"Do you think you can get that?" Brett asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure I can get my mom to send it. When the kids have free playtime tonight, I'll go in the counselor's lounge and call her," Katie said.

"Great, do you think it will get here next Wednesday?" Brett asked. Brett stuffed the rest of his sandwich in his mouth.

"I'll tell her to send it out right away," Katie said.

Jessica walked up to the table.

"Brett, your little sister ran out of here crying a little while ago," Jessica said.

"Thanks Jessica, I'll go check on her in a second." Brett said. Brett drank the rest of his juice and stood up from the table. He grabbed his dishes to bring to the kitchen. "See you later, Katie."

Brett put his dishes in the dish bucket and walked out the door.

* * *

Hayley, Tisha, and Elsie were almost to the mess hall when Brett walked out.

"Hey Els, what's the matter?" Brett said.

"We'll leave you two alone." Hayley said. Hayley and Tisha walked into the mess hall.

"I want to go home," Elsie said.

"Why?"

"I want Mom," Elsie said.

"Els, Mom can't come and get you. She has to work and if I'm here, there's no one at home to watch you."

Elsie started crying again.

"Aren't you making friends? I see you have new signatures on your cast," Brett said.

"The girls in my cabin signed it."

"So, what happened?"

"This girl named Annie said something mean."

"Don't listen to her, ok." Brett said. "Do you know what happens to kids like Annie when they don't behave here at camp?"

Elsie shook her head.

"Well, there's a guy named Jason over there that takes care of them." Brett pointed in the direction of the boy's side of camp. "So, if Annie or anyone else is a jerk to you again, you tell someone and I'll make sure Jason takes care of it. Okay?"

Elsie nodded.

Brett gave her a hug. "Are you okay now?"

Elsie nodded and wiped the tears off her face.

"Let's go back inside. It's time to split up for activities."

* * *

Blair was sitting on the couch reading a book to Amanda when the phone rang. Blair reached behind her and grabbed the phone.

"Hello?"

"Blair, it's me."

"Hey Natalie, how's the book tour going?"

"I had a huge turnout. You'll never guess who I ran into."

"You met a celebrity! It was the guy from that movie wasn't it?"

"No, I saw Sue Ann from Eastland."

"I haven't seen her in what ten years. What has she been up to?" Blair asked.

"She's the editor of a fashion magazine."

"Which fashion magazine?"

"It's called _Shae Allorn._"

"Oh, I've never read that one."

Amanda started squirming around in Blair's lap, trying to get down. Blair put her on the floor.

"Did you get my mail yet?" Natalie asked.

"Yeah, I have it right here."

"Did I get anything from Annie?"

"Let me check." Blair stood up and walked over to the desk. "I know I got a letter from Annie."

"_You_ got a letter from Annie! Why is she sending _you_ letters?"

"I don't know, I guess I was the only one she felt could give her _love_ advice."

"Blair, she's ten, she's not ready for love advice."

"Natalie, when you were ten, you were trying to attract boys too."

"Gosh, you're right, what's his name?"

"His name is Scott. Annie's hoping he asks her to be his partner for the square dance."

"Scott? Isn't he the kid she punched in the face last year?"

"I don't remember, Natalie."

"Well, did she send me a letter?"

Blair looked through Natalie's mail.

"Yeah, I found one."

"Can you open it and read it to me?"

Natalie heard Blair open the envelope and the rustling of paper being removed and unfolded.

"Hey Mom, Camp is great, I'm having fun. Love, Annie."

"That's it? She writes you a whole page, and me, her mother, gets a measly ten words. Wait until she gets home." Natalie said.

"Well at least she's being good, right?

"I hope she's being good. I haven't gotten any calls. Did Kelsey send you anything?"

"Yeah, she says she's trying to have fun, but Jamie says she's going to throw her in the lake. I'm going to have to talk to Jo about that. She needs to understand that we Warner's don't get our hair wet."

Natalie rolled her eyes.

* * *

Later that night at the bonfire, all the campers were roasting marshmallows. Brett walked up to Elsie who was standing next to Kelsey.

"Hey Els, are you having fun?"

"Yeah, I met some new friends."

Brett looked at all the kids roasting their marshmallows. His mouth dropped open when he saw Kelsey.

"Els, did you know that girl looks just like you?"

"Yeah, we're twins."

"Elsie, you don't have a twin."

Elsie pointed to Kelsey. "Then who is that?"

Brett didn't know how to answer that.

"Els, if you had a twin, I would know about it. I'm eleven years older than you, so I would remember if mom was having twins."

"Well, what if we are twins? What happens then?"

"I don't know, but this is freaking me out. I have to go." Brett walked away and went towards the other male counselors.

Kelsey turned towards Elsie. "If we're really twins, what do you think will happen?"

"I don't know, but if we're twins it means we are sisters and if we are sisters that means we'll be living together."

"Would we live at your house, or mine?" Kelsey asked.

"I don't know. It depends on who we belong to," Elsie said.

"What do you mean?"

"Maybe your parents aren't your parents. Maybe my mom is your mom or the other way around."

Kelsey's marshmallow caught on fire as she let the ramifications of what Elsie just said sink in. _What if my family is not my family? What if I have to go live with Elsie's family? What if I never see my family again?_


	5. Kiss the Moose

Chapter 5

July 16th, 1997

It had been about a week since Katie had called her mother to ask about sending some stuff that she needed and she was hoping it would arrive today. Today was the first Wednesday that the campers could possibly have mail. Katie wasn't the only one who was anticipating mail from home.

"It's mail day!" Annie said. Annie was bouncing around the cabin like she was on a sugar high.

"Why are _you_ so excited about it?" Beth asked.

"Yeah, you don't even like getting mail, because you don't want to kiss the moose," Missy said.

"Well, I'm expecting a letter," Annie said.

"Then you'll have to kiss the moose." Mary said. Mary grabbed a sock from under her bed and put it with her dirty clothes.

"I don't care about that anymore. It's not a big deal." Annie said. Annie walked over to Katie. "When is the dinner bell going to ring?"

"Fifteen minutes, but we can't go until the cabin's clean. They are coming to inspect right after dinner and the cleanest cabin gets a reward." Katie was sweeping the cabin with a broom. Katie looked over at Annie's bunk, it was a mess. "Go straighten your bunk out."

Annie climbed up to her bunk and started making it look neater. "What's the reward?"

"I don't know," Katie said. "Everyone put your dirty clothes in your laundry bags and then leave them on the porch. The laundry service will pick them up while we are at dinner."

Annie looked around the cabin, her clothes were strewn everywhere. "I don't want to do that."

"Then you can go naked until the next laundry day," Katie said.

Annie went around the cabin and picked up all her clothes. She threw them in her laundry bag and threw the bag on the porch.

Soon all the laundry bags were on the porch and the cabin was clean to Katie's approval. The dinner bell rang and they all ran to get in line.

* * *

Brett decided to sit with Katie and the other female counselors at dinner.

"Hey Brett, what's going on with your sister and Kelsey Warner?" Jessica asked.

"I don't know, I don't want everyone to make a big deal out of it," Brett said. "I told Elsie not to write anything about it to our mom if she writes home."

"Why can't she do that?" Leah asked. Leah took a bite of her burger.

"Because I'm scared that my mom will call the camp director and then, they'll call Kelsey's parents and try to straighten this mess out during camp. I'm scared that I'll never see Elsie again."

"Do you really think Elsie's not your sister?" Hayley asked.

"No matter what happens, she'll always be my sister and I love her. I want to spend as much time as possible with her here at camp, before we go home and all hell breaks loose."

"How do you know Kelsey's not your sister too?" Jessica asked.

"My mom never told me she was having twins. I was eleven though. I don't remember everything about her pregnancy."

"But she had a baby, right?" Katie asked. Katie put ketchup and mustard on her burger.

"Yes, she definitely had a baby, but I don't think she had twins. We only bought one crib, I remember that," Brett said. "Have you ever seen Kelsey's parents?"

Everyone at the table shook their heads.

"Well, today when the kids had free playtime after lunch, I took the camp's Jeep to the library. Kelsey's parents are kind of well-known in the press around here. It didn't take long for me to find a picture of them in a newspaper. Elsie is the spitting image of Kelsey's mother."

"Does Elsie look like either of your parents?" Katie asked.

"Well yeah, kind of," Brett said. "Elsie, kind of, looks like my mom. People on the street have told my mom that Elsie looks like her before."

"Brett, it sounds like from what you're telling us that Elsie might belong to the Warner's and not your parents, but it might be possible that she's still your biological sister," Jessica said.

"Did any of the newspapers say anything about the Warner's having twins?" Leah asked.

Brett shook his head. "I didn't see anything like that. Just please don't make a big deal about this at camp, don't tell anyone." Brett finished his burger.

"We won't say anything," Katie said. "Isn't that right, guys?"

"Yeah, that's right," Leah said. "But you better hope Kelsey didn't say anything to her parents in a letter. She mailed one out this morning."

"Oh no," Brett said. Brett stood up and called Kelsey over to the table.

Kelsey got up and walked to the table. "Am I in trouble?"

"No," Leah said. "We just want to ask you a question."

"Did you mail a letter to your parents this morning?" Brett asked.

"Yes."

"Did you say anything about Elsie in the letter?"

"Yes, I told them I met my sister," Kelsey said.

"Oh no," Brett said.

"Am I in trouble?"

"No, I guess not, just don't say anything else about Elsie in your letters to your parents." Brett said. Brett turned to Katie. "We have to get that letter back."

Kelsey looked like she was about to cry. "I'm sorry."

"Don't worry, we'll just get the letter back," Brett said. "You can help Jessica hand out the mail, okay."

"Okay," Kelsey said. Kelsey was on the verge of tears.

"Hayley, you come with me to the mail room. Katie you stay here and make sure your package is here." Brett and Hayley left the table and ran out the door.

* * *

Brett and Hayley ran towards the mail room.

"Um, Brett, wasn't your sister here last year?"

"Yeah, why do you ask?"

"Kelsey was here last year too, why didn't they see each other then?"

"There's four-hundred kids here, split between two sides of the lake," Brett said. "Elsie was signed up late last year, so she was on the north side of the lake. I was assigned to the south side, so we were separated. Elsie had a fit, because it was her first year at camp. My mom did everything she could to make sure Elsie and I would be on the same side this time. Kelsey must have been on the south side too. They never had a chance to see each other."

"Yeah, Kelsey was on the south side, Jessica had her last year," Hayley said. "Who was Elsie's counselor last year?"

"Some girl named Maria, I think Jessica knows her. I've seen them hanging out together before. I think Maria's on the north side again."

Brett and Hayley reached the mail room.

"I hope we can get that letter back," Brett said.

* * *

Annie was staring at Scott. Scott was sitting on the other side of the room with his cabin mates. Scott kept glancing over his shoulder at Annie. Annie didn't know what to do. She hoped she received her letter soon. Annie glanced at the counselor's table. She saw Kelsey standing over there looking like she was about to cry.

"What's up with Kelsey?" Annie asked.

"I don't know," Jamie said. "She got called over there and then Brett and Hayley ran out of here." Jamie dumped too much ketchup on her burger, it would be messy.

"She looks like she's going to start crying," Annie said.

"Maybe they told her that something bad happened to her parents," Tisha said.

"No, Tisha, don't say stuff like that," Jamie said. "My mom would flip out if that happened again. Kelsey would be crying already if something like that happened. It's probably not anything like that."

"Oh look, she gets to hand out the mail," Annie said. "Why would she cry about that though?"

"Because mail gets dirty, you don't know where it's been or who touched it and didn't wash their hands," Jamie said. "Princess Kelsey doesn't want cooties." Jamie bit into her burger, the ketchup squirted out the back and onto her shirt.

They heard Jessica giving instructions out to everyone.

"If I call your name, come up here and get your mail from Kelsey and then go line up at the ladder next to Leah. Every letter you get, you have to kiss the moose. If you get a package, you will kiss the moose three times," Jessica said.

Jessica started calling out names. Campers were leaving their seats and retrieving their mail. The line to the moose was getting long.

Annie's name still wasn't called. Annie was getting worried. _What if she didn't write?_ Annie noticed Katie got a package. _I wonder what's in there._ Everyone was chanting for the campers in line to kiss the moose. _I wonder if they are in alphabetical order._ Tisha's name was called. _If they are, I'm screwed. Robinson came before Williams._ Jamie's name was called. _Maybe I still have a chance. _The pile was getting smaller and smaller. Annie saw Brett and Hayley come back in the mess hall. Then Jessica was down to the last letter.

"Annie Robinson."

Annie ran and practically ripped the letter out of Kelsey's hand. It was from Blair. Annie was relieved. Annie stood in the back of the moose line and ripped the letter open. Annie unfolded the letter and read it. _That really works? It's not really ME though. I guess I could try it out. _Annie shoved the letter in her pocket and waited her turn to kiss the moose.

* * *

Brett and Hayley were back from the mail room.

"Did you get the letter back?" Katie asked.

"No, it already went out this morning." Brett said. Brett kicked a chair.

"Maybe Kelsey's parents won't freak out," Leah said.

"I hope they just think she's making up stories," Brett said. "I don't want to lose my sister."

* * *

It was Annie's turn at the moose, she climbed the ladder.

"Pucker up, Annie," a girl's voice said.

"Do you need some chap stick?" a boy asked.

Annie closed her eyes and put her lips on the moose's cheek, it felt hairy. It was gross, but if what her Aunt Blair said in the letter was true, and it could get Scott to ask her to be his partner at the dance, then it would all be worth it.

Annie jumped off the ladder. Kelsey was behind her, holding about eight letters.

"Geez, how many letters did you get?"

"Eight," Kelsey said. "My mom misses me, she wrote me every day."

"Get up there then, it's your turn. I'll be counting the kisses."

Annie went back to the table. Everyone was counting Kelsey's kisses. Jamie was doubled over laughing so hard, she had tears running down her face. The crowd finally counted to eight. Kelsey came down the ladder. She looked like she was going to have a panic attack from having to do something so gross as to kiss a giant, dead, moose head.

Annie caught Scott staring at her. _Let's see if this works._ Annie tossed her hair back and giggled.

"Annie, what are you doing?" Jamie asked.

"I'm flirting."

"Did Aunt Blair teach you that?"

"Yeah, she told me this works."

"Annie, not you too," Jamie was disgusted. "I didn't think you would believe in that crap."

Scott stood up from his table and walked towards Annie.

"Shut up, Jamie," Annie said. "It's working." _I can't believe this is working._

"Hey, Annie," Scott said. Scott shifted his weight from foot to foot.

"Hey Scott, what's up?"

Scott looked back at his buddies. They motioned for him to get on with it. Scott looked at Annie.

"So um…I-I was w-wondering if y-you wanted to b-be my p-p-partner at the…the s-square d-d-dance?"

"I'd love to be your partner, Scott."

Scott sighed in relief and turned around and gave his buddies two thumbs up.

"So, I guess I'll see you later."

"Bye, Scott."

Scott turned around and headed to his table.

Annie pumped her fist. _Yes, it worked! _Annie didn't have much time to celebrate, because at that moment Kelsey fainted and all hell broke loose.

* * *

Annie and her bunk mates were in their cabin getting ready to go to bed. The other girls noticed that Katie had a package.

"Katie, what did you get?" Beth asked.

"Is it candy?" Mary asked.

"No, you guys know we can't have food in the cabins," Katie said.

"What is it then?" Missy asked.

"It's private." Katie said. She shoved the package under her bunk.

"Come on, you can show us." Missy said. Missy pulled her pajama top over her head.

"Guys, it's just maxi pads and tampons," Annie said.

"Oh, that's no fun. I was hoping it was cookies," Beth said.

"Lights out in ten minutes," Katie was relieved that the attention was now off of the contents of her package. It definitely wasn't feminine hygiene products though.

Annie climbed up to her bunk and pulled out a piece of stationary.

_Dear Aunt Blair, _

_It worked! Scott asked me to be his partner at the dance._

_Kelsey fainted at dinner. She's fine, but she probably doesn't want you to send her anymore letters…_

* * *

July 17th, 1997

Lunch was sloppy Joe's the next afternoon. Mary was picking at hers.

"I don't like this." Mary complained. "It's gross."

"You put it on your plate, you have to eat it." Annie said. Annie took a bite of her sloppy Joe.

"I thought I would like it. I'm not eating it."

"You have to," Annie said.

"No, I'm not going to." Mary shoved the sloppy Joe on Annie's plate.

"I don't want it." Annie dumped it back on Mary's plate.

Mary threw it at Annie's plate, it landed on Annie's shirt.

Annie stood up. A mischievous grin spread across her face.

Annie shouted, "FOOD FIGHT!"

Annie threw the sloppy Joe at Mary's head. The room was in complete chaos.

Sloppy Joes were flying everywhere. Jamie picked up the table's bowl of sloppy Joe meat and dumped the whole thing on Kelsey's head. Elsie was hiding under the table. Tisha threw grape juice at Jamie.

A loud whistle pierced through the air.

Everybody stopped. The mess hall was a mess. There was sloppy Joe goop everywhere, the floor, the wall, even the ceiling. Everyone in the room was covered in food. Tables and chairs had been knocked over.

"Annie Robinson, go see Jason right now!" It was Jessica and she looked angry. "The rest of you hit the showers."

"You are in trou-ble."

Annie gulped. She walked slowly out of the mess hall. She hoped that Jason wouldn't kill her.

* * *

Annie walked slowly to the boy's side of camp. She was terrified. She had been sent to the director's office before, but Jason was new. She had never met him before and she had heard from the other campers that he was a real hard ass.

Annie reached the door and she hesitated before opening it.

Jason's office looked like the inside of all the cabins, except there weren't any bunks. Instead there was a desk. On the wall, behind the desk, there was a hockey mask hanging on a hook. On the right wall, there was a painted picture. It was a woman, maybe a teenager, with long flowing blonde hair. She was wearing a white dress, or maybe it was a nightgown, that looked like it was blowing in the wind. She was walking along a large body of water, an ocean or a lake maybe, during a full moon.

Jason was leaning back in his chair, his feet up on the desk, talking on the phone. He looked about the same age as her mother, maybe a little bit older.

"I'll have to talk to you later. I have a kid in my office," He said. "Alright, I'll talk to you later."

Jason hung up the phone and put his feet on the floor. He took a good look at Annie.

"You guys had a food fight?"

Annie nodded.

"You started it?"

Annie shook her head. Annie stared at the painting. She couldn't get it out of her head.

"What's your name?"

"M-My name is…is A-Annie R-R-Robinson."

"Ah, the infamous Annie Robinson," Jason said. "You have a rap sheet a mile long."

Jason went into a filing cabinet and pulled out a thick file folder, he dropped it on the desk. It made a loud noise, when it hit the desk and Annie jumped back.

"Why are you so jumpy? Relax, I don't bite."

"W-What's w-with the…the h-hockey mask?"

"I like to play hockey. My hockey stick is in the corner." Jason pointed it out.

Annie relaxed a little.

"So, if you didn't start the food fight, then who did?"

"Mary Taylor threw sloppy Joes at me first."

"I have a report that you were the one who shouted 'food fight' though, and that is when everything erupted. You are as much at fault as Mary is. You will lose your afternoon activity and will spend that time cleaning the mess hall. Mary will be joining you, after I talk to her."

Annie didn't think that was so bad. Her afternoon activity was archery and she didn't much care for it anyway. At least Mary was in trouble too and she wouldn't have to clean up the mess by herself. Maybe Jason was alright after all. Well as long as he didn't call her parents.

"Are you going to call my parents?"

"No, there's no need to bother them about a silly little food fight. I used to be just like you when I was a kid. I've started enough food fights in my day, it's just harmless fun. Besides everything washes."

"Then why do I have to clean it up?"

"It's not fair for the mess hall staff to have to clean that up by themselves. You need to learn to be responsible for your actions. They will do what they can to help you and Mary clean it up."

Annie decided that was fair. Jason was cool after all. He wasn't going to call her parents. He was just trying to teach her a lesson and she understood that discipline wasn't all that bad. He was trying to teach her responsibility. Annie felt better that the kitchen staff would help and maybe it wouldn't be so hard. Maybe she would come out of this with a new appreciation for what the kitchen staff had to do every day to keep the mess hall clean.

"Well, I guess you're alright then," Annie said. "You're cool with me."

"You're cool with me too, now get back to the mess hall and help clean it up."

Annie's eyes went back to the painting.

"I just have one question," she said.

"What's that?"

"Who is that in the painting?" Annie pointed to the picture on the wall.

"That is Violette."

"Who is Violette?"

"You know her as the Ice Princess."

Annie was shocked. "She's really real? I thought no one knew her name."

"We found her camp records, her name was Violette. She was a real person. Now off you go."

Annie left Jason's office. Jason leaned back in his chair, he put his feet up on the desk and smirked as he read Annie's file.

* * *

July 18th, 1997

Natalie had been to four more cities on her book tour, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Indianapolis, and Chicago. Now Natalie was in Wisconsin, it had been a long day. Natalie couldn't wait to get back to her hotel and soak in the bathtub. She had a pretty long line of people waiting that she was trying to get through. She noticed the last person kept letting new people cut in front of him.

Finally, the manager of the book store capped the line and told the last person that he was the last one. Natalie was only supposed to be here until 5:00, but it was 4:30 and Natalie would sign everyone's book that was still waiting regardless of what time it was.

As Natalie signed books, the line grew shorter and shorter and soon the last person was standing in front of her. The person who was so patient, had waited all afternoon, and had been kind enough to let others go ahead of him. Natalie looked at him, he had reddish brown hair and he was in his twenties. Natalie recognized him right away and he was still short.

"Andy!" Natalie ran around the table and gave him a big hug.

"Hey Nat, how's it going?"

"I've been great," Natalie said. "How are you? I heard you and Pippa got married. Sorry none of us could come. We were all too busy taking care of Blair and flying to Australia with her in the condition she was in was out of the question."

"It's okay Nat. We understood that you guys couldn't come. Mrs. Garrett told us, she didn't want to put Blair back on a plane."

"It was nice of you to let all those people ahead of you in line."

"Yeah, I figured we would get to talking and I didn't want to hold up anyone."

"So what's new with you?"

"Well, we really aren't telling people yet, but Pippa and I are expecting our first baby."

"Congratulations, that's great. I can't wait to see pictures. When is the baby due?"

"It's due in February. Pippa wanted to come, but she's still in that phase where she has morning sickness, except that it's more like 'all day' sickness. My mom is staying with her."

"How is Beverly Ann?"

"She's great, she's so excited about becoming a grandma. I think she's knitting a blanket."

"I know everyone would like to see you guys, do you think you guys could come back to Peekskill for Christmas this year?"

"I don't know. I guess we'll see. It's going to be entirely up to how Pippa's feeling in December. It has been a long time, hasn't it?"

"Yeah, most of us haven't seen you in almost ten years. When's the last time you were in Peekskill?"

"I think it was about six years ago. Mom and I went right after Blair and Tad's plane crashed. Mrs. Garrett was a wreck and she was left with their daughter. Kelsey was about two years old."

"Yeah, she's eight now, so yeah that would be about six years."

"Anyway, we all read your book. We each have a copy." Andy set a stack of three books on the table.

"Okay, well you tell me who's is whose and I'll sign them."

Andy told Natalie and she wrote personal messages in each one.

"It was nice seeing you again. I'm glad you came," Natalie said. "I hope to see you guys in Peekskill soon, everyone will want to see you and don't forget, I want to see pictures of that baby."

Andy picked up his stack of books.

"I'll make sure you get pictures and if we can't make it this year, we'll definitely try to come next year."

"Bye Andy."

"Tell the girls I said hi." Andy turned around and left the store.

* * *

July 20th, 1997

Jo and Rick were lost. Somewhere they had taken a wrong turn on the highway and were now driving in the middle of nowhere.

"We should've stopped back there and asked for directions," Jo said.

"Jo, we don't need directions. There's a perfectly good map in the glove compartment."

Jo opened the glove compartment and found the map. It was dated 1988, Jo groaned.

"Rick, this map is almost ten years old. Some of these roads may not even be here anymore."

"We'll figure it out, don't worry."

Rick continued driving on the long stretch of road. The highway seemed abandoned. It was covered in potholes that had probably been there for years. They were the only car on the road and they hadn't seen another car for miles.

Jo saw a structure up ahead. It looked like an old gas station. The kind you find in really small towns with one pump and full service.

"Looks like we may have found civilization," Jo said.

Rick pulled into the gas station.

"I don't see anyone, I think it's closed," Rick said.

"It looks abandoned," Jo said.

Jo got out of the car and walked to the doors of the gas station and peeked inside. The inside was vacant, papers and trash littered the floor. Jo looked at the newspaper stand next to the door. The paper in the box was from 1984.

"This place is abandoned, Rick," Jo said. "The newspaper is from 1984."

"We have enough gas anyway."

"Rick, you don't even know where we are. How do you know we have enough gas? It could be a long time before we find another gas station."

"What does the newspaper say? Maybe we can figure out where we are."

Jo looked at the newspaper again.

"Janesville."

"Alright, I'll find that on the map." Rick looked at the map.

Jo looked at the rest of their surroundings. Across the street were a run-down diner and a motel. Both of them also looked like they had been abandoned. Next to the gas station was an equally run-down tavern, and a small, white, church situated next to a cemetery. Jo looked down the street and saw what used to be a school, next to a library, a bank, police and fire departments, and a town hall. Some of the buildings had broken windows and signs were hanging off the buildings by one nail. It didn't look like any of these buildings had been occupied for years. It was, in all essence, a ghost town.

"This place gives me the creeps." Jo felt a shiver go down her spine.

"I found it," Rick said. "We aren't that far from the main road."

"Great, let's get going." Jo headed back to the car.

"It's getting dark, it would be better if we left in the morning when it's light out."

"Rick, I don't want to stay here. This place is like '_Children of the Corn_' creepy."

"It'll be okay. We'll just go to that motel over there and spend the night. We'll leave first thing in the morning."

"Rick, this place is abandoned. There won't be anyone there. I don't want to sleep here."

"Come on, where's your sense of adventure? It's just one night. We'll have a great story to tell Jamie when we get home."

"We will only if we survive and the children of the corn don't get us."

"Jo, there's no one here."

"Then why do I have this creepy feeling that we're being watched?"

"It's probably just the ghosts."

"That doesn't make me feel any better."

"Come on, Jo."

"Fine, but I'm bringing my gun."

Rick and Jo got back in the car and went over to the motel. As they suspected the place was empty.

Rick went behind the front desk and brushed the cobwebs off of the keys. He grabbed the key for room 1.

"No, we are not staying in room 1. That's the room number that Norman Bates gave Marion Crane, before he murdered her in the shower."

"Jo, you've been watching too many horror movies."

Rick grabbed the key for room 5 instead.

"I still don't like this."

"Jo, no one is here. No one has been here for years."

"Fine, let's go to the room."

Rick and Jo left the office and found the door to room 5. Rick opened it with the key.

"It smells," Jo said.

"It's just a little musty." Rick said.

There was a double bed, an old TV, and a radio. The room itself wasn't very clean. The carpet was stained and the wallpaper was peeling.

"It's not a Warner hotel, but it will have to do for the night."

"I'm sleeping in my clothes, on top of the bedspread," Jo said.

Rick tried the radio, it didn't work. "Batteries are dead."

"Of course they are. No one's been here for years."

"I'll get our radio from the car." Rick opened the door and went outside.

Jo looked in the bathroom, it was a mess. The sink, shower, and toilet were filthy. The toilet was clogged. Some of the floor tiles were missing, the wallpaper was peeling, the ceiling had a hole in it and the mirror was covered in grime. Dust covered everything. Jo went back into the main room, disgusted.

Rick came back in the room with their radio.

"I just checked out the bathroom," Jo said. "I'd rather pee outside."

Rick turned the radio on. There was nothing but static until Rick found a station playing the news.

"_Special News Bulletin: A convicted murderer escaped from the Watsonville prison this afternoon._"

"That's only about thirty miles from here," Rick said.

"Great, I wasn't planning on sleeping tonight anyway."

* * *

All the campers were sitting around the campfire. Kelsey and Elsie were sitting on a log together. Jamie and Tisha, Annie and Scott, and Brett and Katie all shared separate logs.

Scott got up off of the log that he shared with Annie and walked away. He came back a few minutes later with six cans of soda.

"I didn't know what kind you wanted, so I grabbed one of each," Scott said.

Annie looked at the soda cans. "You have two Pepsi's."

"I grabbed one for me too." Scott handed Annie the other five cans of soda.

"That's okay, I can drink five cans."

Annie had never drunk five cans of soda in one sitting. Her mother wouldn't allow it. Annie was only allowed to have soda in moderation. One can a week tops.

"You're going to have to go to the bathroom real bad later." Scott opened his Pepsi.

"Nah, I can hold it." Annie opened her first can and chugged it.

* * *

Brett and Katie were whispering a few logs over.

"So, we'll do it tonight, after everyone's asleep," Brett said.

"It looks like we won't have that much trouble." Katie looked over at Annie. "Annie's on her third one."

* * *

"Well I have half a can left," Annie said.

"I can't believe you drank that much soda in one sitting," Scott said.

"I know, I'm so full, but I think I can finish this last little bit." Annie drank the rest and threw the can in the trash.

* * *

Later that night when everyone was asleep, Annie climbed down from her bunk. She put her shoes on and grabbed a flashlight. She started going out the door, but then she remembered what Jason told her. _The Ice Princess was real._ If that was true, Annie didn't want to go out there by herself.

"Mary, wake up."

Mary was sound asleep. She wouldn't wake up for nothing.

"Psst, wake up, Beth."

Beth rolled over and faced the wall.

"Missy, wake up?"

Missy opened her eyes a crack, she was half asleep.

Annie was relieved. _Good, Missy will go with me._

"Go away, Annie."

Missy sunk back into her pillow.

"Ugh," Annie was frustrated. She had to go the bathroom _right now_. Her only other option was Katie. Usually there would be no way that Annie would ask Katie to go with her, but she was desperate.

Annie walked over to Katie's bunk.

"Katie, please come with me to the bathroom."

There was no response from Katie.

Annie decided she would have to go by herself. She had to go _now_. It would probably be okay anyway. _The moon wasn't full tonight, was it?_ She opened the cabin door and ran out.

The bathroom was next to Chipmunk cabin. Annie ran to the door, the sign said 'boys.'

_Aww man, it was the girl's bathroom earlier._ Annie didn't want to take the chance that a boy might be in there. _Now I have to go all the way to the other side to find the girl's bathroom._

Annie ran to the boy's side of camp. The bathroom said 'girls.'

Annie sighed in relief and went in.

A few minutes later Annie walked out of the bathroom and shined her flashlight on the ground. Annie started walking back to Wolf cabin. Annie stopped when she heard a rustling in the bushes.

Annie pointed her flashlight at the bushes.

"Who's there?"

There was no answer. The rustling continued.

"Come out!"

Something came out of the bushes. Annie closed her eyes and screamed.

Annie opened her eyes and saw an animal's butt running away. The butt had a white fluffy tail. Annie was relieved. _It was just a rabbit._

"Stupid bunny almost gave me a heart attack," Annie said to herself.

Annie cautiously continued walking back to her cabin.

Annie was still on the boy's side of camp when she saw something white out of the corner of her eye. Annie slowly turned to see what it was. It was then that Annie saw her. A woman with long flowing blonde hair, wearing a white nightgown, was walking along the lake, under the light of a full moon.

Annie froze in place. She turned her flashlight off and stayed still as a statue. _Oh my God, It's the Ice Princess! She's really real!_

Annie didn't know what to do. She didn't want the ghost to see her. It was too late though. The woman turned around and made eye contact with Annie. Then the Ice Princess started walking towards Annie.


	6. Cliff Driving

Chapter 6

2:00 AM

Jo was wide awake. Rick was snoring beside her. Jo had her gun resting on her chest. A scraping sound coming from outside startled her. Jo whipped her head in the direction of the window. There was no electricity in this place, so there was no light from outside, which also meant there were no shadows. Jo slowly got off the bed and went to the door. She made sure it was locked. Then she made sure the curtains on the window were closed tight.

Jo heard the scraping sound again. Her body tensed up and she froze in place. _What if the escaped murderer was outside right now? How long would it take someone to walk thirty miles?_ Jo figured it out in her head. _Ten hours, less if he actually got a ride from someone stupid enough to pick up a hitchhiker._ _So depending on what time he escaped, he could be here right now, waiting outside. _Jo didn't want to take that chance. She wanted to get out of here right now.

Jo walked back over to the bed. She felt around for Rick's body. She shook him.

"Rick, wake up?"

Rick groaned. "What time is it?"

Jo pushed a button on her watch, the face lit up. "It's just after 2:00 AM. I want to leave right now."

"It's the middle of the night." Rick sat up in the bed.

"I can't sleep here. I keep hearing a scraping sound outside. What if he's out there?"

"What if who's out there?"

"You know who I'm talking about, the escaped convict. What if he saw our car? What if he went in the office? What if he saw the key to this room was missing, and he's waiting outside for us?"

"Jo, I think the scraping sound is a tree branch hitting the siding. I think we're safe here, but if it makes you feel better, we can go and find a real motel in a civilized area."

"Alright, good, let's get out of here. I'll grab the radio."

Jo found the radio. They made sure they had everything that was theirs and walked over to the door.

"Do you have the car keys ready? When we open the door, I'm running to the car."

"Jo, we should put the key back in the office," Rick said.

"No, Rick, no one's going to care if we don't put the key back."

"I'm putting the key back in the office. You can go to the car." Rick handed Jo the keys. "Make sure you look under it and in the back seat before you get in."

"Rick, I know that. Let's just go."

Jo kept her gun ready at her side. They opened the door and peeked out. They didn't see anyone. They stepped out. Rick shut the motel room door and locked it.

"I thought you were running to the car," Rick said.

Jo hung onto Rick. "The car is in front of the office, so I'll just stay with you until we get there."

They walked quietly to the office. Jo let go of Rick when she saw the car, she checked that no one was under it before she approached it.

Rick went in the office, he felt around in the dark and put the key back where he thought it belonged.

Rick went back outside. Jo was in the car with the doors locked. She reached over and opened the driver's side door when she saw him coming. He got in and she handed him the keys, he put them in the ignition.

"Uh-oh, we have a problem," Rick said. "The car won't start."

"What do you mean the car won't start?"

"I'm only kidding." Rick started the car.

"Rick, that's not funny."

They pulled out of the parking lot and got back on the road.

"You can go faster, it's not like there are any cops around to catch you speeding."

"Jo, the road is not banked to go faster, besides there are a lot of potholes. Do you want a flat tire?"

"No, I just want to get out of here and never come back."

"I should tell Tad about this place. Maybe he can put a hotel here and get it redeveloped."

"Tad and Blair are our friends, Rick. Blair may be a little annoying sometimes, but I wouldn't send her and Tad here to put up a hotel."

"It would be redeveloped, everything would be fixed up. Maybe some retail stores would move in. There would be people around and it wouldn't be so creepy. It would be a whole new town."

"They would probably rename it Warnerville and I would never hear the end of it. Just what Blair needs, a whole town named after her."

"I can see the sign now. Welcome to Warnerville. Mayor Blair Warner-Warner."

"We wouldn't be welcome there."

"Why wouldn't we be?" Rick asked.

"Because we like cotton, you know there would be a law against wearing cotton in that town."

They sat in silence for a little bit and then Jo saw a man walking on the side of the road towards them.

"Rick go faster, it's him it has to be."

"Let's pick him up, maybe he needs a ride."

"Rick, are you crazy?"

"I'm only kidding. I would never pick up a hitchhiker. Do you really think it's him?"

"Who else would be hitchhiking in the middle of night? I did the math. He could be here right now."

The car passed the man, Jo looked at him. He was wearing a light blue jumpsuit.

"It is him, he's wearing prison clothes. We have to get to a phone and call the police." Jo looked out the back window to make sure the man didn't turn around and follow them.

"Get the map out, so we can figure out where to go."

Jo pulled the map out of the glove compartment and found a flashlight under the seat. She pointed the flashlight at the map.

Rick pointed on the map to where they were.

"Keep right up here, it should take us to the main road."

Rick kept to the right. The road was taking them up a large hill. Up ahead there was a fork in the road.

"Which way do I need to go?" Rick asked.

"Go on the right." Jo looked out the windshield. "Stop go left instead, it looks like the road drops off a cliff if you go right."

Rick went left. As they went farther, they saw signs along the side of the road telling them that beyond that was a dead end.

"I think this is the wrong way. We're going to have to turn around and try the right path."

"What if the right path is a cliff edge?"

At the end of the road was a big, white, house. Outdoor lights lit it up in the front. There was no way to go past it, they had to turn around.

"Do you want to knock on the door?"

"No Rick, it's the middle of the night. I don't want to bother these people. They could have large dogs or a big gun."

"Alright, we'll turn around."

There was enough room to turn around in the driveway. They headed back to the fork in the road.

"The road is on the map, right?"

"Yeah, but this map is from 1988."

They had to make a sharp turn to go down the right path.

Jo screamed as Rick tried to make the turn. Rick slammed on the brakes.

"You almost drove us into the guardrail and off a cliff."

The car had not completed the turn yet and was pointed at the guardrail. Jo could see a large body of water down below.

"Jo, relax. Let me complete the turn." Rick put the car in reverse and backed up. He had more room now to turn on the road. Rick pulled forward and the car went down.

Jo breathed a sigh of relief. They were on a road. They didn't drive off a cliff. The road led them downhill. Jo saw a power plant on the water's edge. Next to it was the road to the freeway and Jo saw the lights of other cars.

"We're finally in civilization. Now we need to find a place to spend the night. I really have to go to the bathroom."

They merged onto the freeway and got off at the next city.

"There's a Taco Bell, maybe I can use the bathroom."

"I think it's closed."

"The employees are still inside."

Rick parked, Jo ran out of the car. She walked up to the door and tried to open it, it was locked. It was more than locked though. It was chained shut from the inside.

Jo ran back to the car. "It's closed. This must be a city with a high crime rate, if the fast food places have to chain their doors shut at night."

Rick pulled out of the parking lot and Jo tried not to think about her aching bladder.

"I have to go really bad."

"Do you want me to pull over, so you can go behind a bush?"

"No, that's illegal. If I get caught, I'll be in trouble. We can't afford that."

Rick turned at the next intersection. Jo saw an inn, it was actually nice looking.

"Rick, there's an inn!" Jo pointed to the inn and Rick pulled in.

Jo ran into the inn. There was a woman at the front desk.

"We need a room. I have to pee."

The woman told Jo she could use the employee bathroom. Jo ran back there. Rick came in the inn and started the process to get a room.

When Jo got out of the bathroom, Rick was nowhere in sight. The woman at the desk told her he was in room 115. Jo found the room and found that Rick had left it cracked open for her.

Jo found Rick on the phone with the police reporting that he saw the escaped convict.

* * *

Annie screamed.

The Ice Princess was walking towards her. Annie couldn't breathe, she was frozen in place. _What do I do? What do I do? She's getting closer._ _The cabin is too far away. I can't just stand here. Maybe if I run, ghosts can't run, can they?_

Annie sprinted towards the cabin. She took a quick glance over her shoulder. It looked like the woman had sped up too. _Don't look back, just keep running. Don't stop until you reach the cabin. _

Annie fell flat on her face. She had tripped over one of the logs around the fire pit. Annie got back up and dusted herself off. She felt pain coming from her left arm. She looked at her elbow and saw a big scrape. Annie shook the pain off and took a step forward, but something was tugging her back.

Annie let out a small scream. _The Ice Princess caught me. _Annie slowly looked behind her. Annie didn't see anyone. The Ice Princess was nowhere in sight. _Then what is pulling me back?_ Annie tried to go again, but was met with the same resistance. Annie looked down at her feet. Her shoelaces were caught between the log and the ground.

_Great, now she'll get me for sure. _Annie tried to free her shoe laces from under the log. _How did this happen anyway?_ Annie took her shoe off and pulled. The shoelace came free from the log and she fell on her butt.

Annie put her shoe on and stood up. She looked around. She didn't see the woman or anyone else. Annie ran until she reached Wolf cabin. The door to the cabin squeaked as Annie opened it. She let it slam behind her not caring if she woke anyone up.

Annie took her shoes off and climbed up to her bunk. She read the words carved into the wall above her head: _The Ice Princess was here._ Annie shuddered. _Maybe Beth will switch bunks with me in the morning._ Annie heard what sounded like wolves howling coming from the boy's side of camp. Annie hid her head under her sleeping bag and tried to go back to sleep.

* * *

Everyone in Kelsey's cabin was sleeping. A noise outside woke Kelsey up. It sounded like someone running, she listened and was startled by the sound of a screen door squeaking as it was being opened and slamming shut. It sounded like it was coming from the cabin next door.

_Who would be outside in the middle of the night?_ Kelsey closed her eyes and tried to go back to sleep. That's when she felt it. Something was tickling her leg.

Kelsey slowly pulled her blanket off of her body. She felt something cold and scaly up against her leg and jumped. Whatever it was, it slithered up the legs of her pajama bottoms. Kelsey's heart pounded as she lifted the waistband of her pajamas. The creature poked its head out. It looked at Kelsey with its little black eyes and stuck its forked tongue out at her.

Kelsey screamed.

* * *

Mrs. Garrett woke up with a start. Someone was screaming. _Blair. _Mrs. Garrett darted out of bed and left the room, throwing her robe on in the process. She ran across the hall as fast as she could. She opened the bedroom door. She heard Blair's voice.

"I'm on fire!"

Blair was screaming in her sleep. The blankets were kicked on the floor and Blair was sweating and thrashing around on the bed. The other side of the bed was empty. Tad had gone out of town on business.

"I'm on fire, please help me!"

Mrs. Garrett climbed on Tad's side of the bed from the foot. She crawled up the bed from the foot to get to Blair and shook her.

"Blair, wake up. You're okay, you're having a nightmare."

"I'm on fire!"

"You're not on fire. Wake up, sweetheart."

Blair's body jolted as she opened her eyes. Her breathing was heavy.

"You had a bad dream, you're okay," Mrs. Garrett said.

"It wasn't a dream, it was real."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Blair shook her head.

"Honey, I think will help to talk about it. Did you get an appointment with a therapist?"

"I called them, and they can't get me in until next week."

"Do you want a glass of water?"

Blair nodded. She wiped tears off her face. "Did I wake up Amanda?"

"No, Amanda's still asleep." Mrs. Garrett climbed off the bed and went into the bathroom for water.

Mrs. Garrett came back and handed Blair the water. Blair took a sip.

"Will you stay with me tonight?" Blair asked.

"Of course sweetheart, I'll stay with you tonight." Mrs. Garrett climbed back in bed next to Blair.

* * *

Kelsey was screaming. Someone turned on the lights. Everyone woke up and Leah ran to Kelsey's bunk.

"Get it out, get it out!" Kelsey was hysterical.

"What is it?" Leah asked.

"There's a snake in my pajamas." Kelsey stood up and tried to shake it out. The snake fell out onto the floor.

All the girls, except Leah and Jackie, screamed and jumped on their bunks.

"Oh, it's just a water snake," Leah said. "He's harmless."

"You found Melvin!" Jackie said. Jackie picked up the snake and held him.

"Melvin?" Anna asked.

"Jackie, you brought a snake in our cabin?" Kristy asked.

"I found him by the lake after lunch. Isn't he cute?" Jackie held the snake up to Kelsey's face.

Kelsey screamed and backed away. "Get it away from me."

"Alright Jackie, that's enough," Leah said. "Kelsey's had enough traumas for one day."

"I couldn't find him before we went to sleep. I thought he was lost," Jackie said.

"She's taking him back to the lake, right Leah?" Anna asked.

"Do I have to?" Jackie asked.

Before Leah could respond there was a knock on the screen door and Hayley came in with Elsie.

"What's going on in here?" Hayley asked.

"Kelsey found a snake in her bed," Leah said. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Elsie begged me to let her come see if Kelsey was alright," Hayley said.

"Whoa! Are you two twins?" Jackie asked.

"We think so, we have the same birthday." Kelsey said.

"Wow, and you just met here at camp?" Kristy asked.

"Yeah," Elsie said.

"So are you going to go home with her when camp is over?" Anna asked.

"My parents would flip out if I had a twin and met them at camp," Jackie said.

Kelsey hadn't thought about what her parent's reactions would be. _Would they flip out?_ She did know that she and Elsie would separate at the end of camp.

"We're going back to our own houses, when camp is over," Kelsey said. "I don't know what will happen after that."

"Okay Elsie, it's time to get back to our cabin. You saw Kelsey, she's fine and you'll see her in the morning," Hayley said.

"Bye Kelsey, goodnight." Elsie gave Kelsey a hug.

Kelsey returned the hug. "Goodnight Elsie, see you in the morning."

Elsie and Hayley left and went back to their cabin.

Leah turned back to the girls. "Alright everyone back to bed."

"What about the snake?" Anna asked.

"I'm sorry Jackie, but you have to put him back in the lake. He belongs in nature. I'll go with you. Everyone else go back to sleep."

"I want to take a shower," Kelsey said.

"No, it's the middle of the night. You can take a shower in the morning."

"I'll hyperventilate until I pass out, if you don't let me take a shower right now."

"Kelsey, you are fine."

Kelsey started crying. "I have to wash the snake germs off, you don't understand."

Leah sighed. "Kelsey, it's time to go to bed. I promise you, you are fine. You can take a shower in the morning. If you go to sleep right now, I'll get you up early so you can be the first one in."

Kelsey lay down in her bunk. Leah left the cabin with Jackie to put the snake back in the lake.

* * *

Breakfast was scrambled eggs, with bacon and sausage. Annie sat at a table with Jamie, Kelsey, Tisha, Elsie, and Mary.

"What happened last night? Why were you screaming?" Jamie asked Kelsey.

"She found a snake in her bed?" Tisha said.

"How did you know that?" Mary asked.

"I know all the latest gossip," Tisha said.

"Kelsey found a snake in her bed and I missed it." Jamie said. Jamie took a drink of her milk. "I wish I could've seen that." Jamie started drinking the rest of her milk.

"You would've been happy. It was in her pajama pants." Tisha said.

Jamie laughed so hard milk squirted out of her nose.

"Gross," Kelsey said. "Jamie!"

"I thought the Ice Princess got you last night," Annie said.

"Annie, you said she wasn't real." Mary said. Mary ate her bacon.

"Well, I found out that she is real. I saw her last night."

"Yeah right," Jamie said. "It wasn't a full moon."

"I did see her. If you don't believe me, that's fine. Just don't come crying to me when she gets you."

"What happened to your elbow?" Elsie asked.

"I tripped over a log, while I was running away from the Ice Princess."

"It looks gross. You should get that checked out," Kelsey said.

"Its fine, maybe it will turn into a scar and I'll have something cool to show my children."

"You mean when you tell them the story of how you ran away from a ghost like a pansy?" Jamie asked.

Annie glared at Jamie and ate the rest of her breakfast.

* * *

July 23rd, 1997

Natalie was in Denver, Colorado. She was just starting her three hours of signing books. The line was the longest line she had yet. She thought the line at the Mall of America in Minnesota was long. The line in Colorado was longer. It seemed everyone in the state wanted to see her.

"Who's next?" Natalie asked.

A man with sandy blonde hair came forward. He gave his book to Natalie.

"Who am I making this out too?"

"Eric," the man said. "And you can make this one out to the East Rockies Rescuers. I'm part of a volunteer group that rescues people off the mountains. I pulled your friend off of Pike's Peak after that plane crashed."

Natalie dropped her pen. She stood up ran around the table and hugged Eric. "Thank you so much." Natalie had tears running down her face.

"Hey, it's what I do," Eric said. "The guys have been wondering what happened to her, so we were really glad when we found this book."

"She is doing pretty well, she's back to her old self. Maybe you could meet her sometime."

"The guys and I would like that, we like to see that people we rescued are okay," Eric said. "I was wondering if you'd like to meet me later and I can tell you the story."

"I would love to hear the story. Blair doesn't like to talk about it. I'm not sure she remembers the details of it though, if she does, she's not telling."

"There's a diner across the street from here, you could meet me there after you're done here. How about 7:00 tonight?"

"I should be done by then, I'll see you at 7:00 and I'll sign your books at the diner. I have a lot of thanks to write in them."

* * *

Blair walked in the house with the mail. She had gone next door to the apartments and picked up Jo's and Natalie's mail. She had a huge pile of mail in her arms, and she was trying not to drop any of it. The mail included what was delivered to the house as well.

Blair was not successful though. When she got back in the house, Sammy jumped on her. She lost her balance and all the mail fell on the floor, while she grabbed the wall to keep from falling.

"Down Sammy, you know better." Blair said. Blair looked at the mess on the floor. Magazines, letters, and bills were scattered everywhere. "Look what you made me do."

Blair sat on the floor and began picking the mail up. Sitting on the floor today was probably a bad idea. Blair's joints were bothering her today, whenever the barometric pressure dropped, all the bones she had broken in her body began to ache. Her pelvic bones were the worst, they had been crushed and had to be put back together with metal plates. It was probably going to rain soon.

Blair started sorting the mail into three piles in front of her. She saw Sammy grab a letter in his mouth out of the corner of her eye. Blair lunged at him and tried to grab the letter, but he was too fast and he ran out of the room with it.

Blair winced as she got up off the floor and picked up all the rest of the mail, not caring whose was whose anymore, and threw the pile on the table. She would sort it later, right now she had to get that letter.

Blair used the wall for support and made her way into the kitchen. Mrs. Garrett was in there baking cookies. Amanda was sitting in her high chair playing with a little bit of cookie dough. She had it all over her face and hands.

"Hi, messy baby," Blair said. Amanda laughed as Blair gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"This recipe doesn't have eggs in it, right?"

"I wouldn't let the baby play with it, if it did." Mrs. Garrett said. Mrs. Garrett finished spooning cookie dough onto the baking sheet and put the tray in the oven.

Blair saw Sammy under the kitchen table chewing on a small, pastel pink envelope. Blair recognized it as one from Kelsey's stationary.

"Sammy, you're a naughty dog." Blair bent down and grabbed the letter. It was ruined.

"What did he do?"

"He ate my letter from Kelsey." Blair felt like crying. She tried to wipe the dog slobber off with a paper towel that was on the table.

"I'm sorry, honey, I know how much you miss Kelsey. I miss her too. Maybe it's still legible." Mrs. Garrett took the letter from Blair and opened it.

The letter was ruined, it had multiple holes in it and the dog slobber had smeared the ink. Neither of them could make out any of the words.

"Honey, I'm sure she'll send you another one," Mrs. Garrett said. Mrs. Garrett saw Blair leaning on the kitchen chairs. She could tell Blair was in pain. Mrs. Garrett had arthritis and had had the same pains earlier, but had taken her medication for it. "Do you want your medicine and the heating pad?"

"No, I'll be okay." The phone rang in the living room. "I'll get it." Blair went to answer it, using the walls for support the entire way.

"Hello?" Blair used her free hand to guide herself around the couch and sat down.

"Hey, it's me," Jo said.

"Oh, hey Jo," Blair said.

"You sound tired."

"Nah, I'm okay." Blair put her feet up and lay on the couch. "How's your vacation?"

"The worst ever, Rick and I got lost, but we finally made it to the lake. The owners of the cottage we rented said they have to replace the sump pump, so the water's turned off in everyone's cottage for the next few hours. Other than that, it's pretty nice here. There are a few other cottages here on the property, mostly couples with kids renting them. Jamie would like it here."

"I hope they turn the water back on soon."

"It should be on soon. Did I get anything from Jamie?"

"I don't know. I'll look. I dropped all the mail earlier and now it's in a big pile all mixed up."

Mrs. Garrett came in carrying Amanda on her hip and set her in the playpen.

"Can you see if Jo has a letter from Jamie?" Blair asked her before she went back in the kitchen.

Mrs. Garrett dug through the mail and handed her a small white envelope.

"Yeah, you have one," Blair said.

Mrs. Garrett went back in the kitchen.

"Great, can you open it and read it to me?" Jo asked.

Blair opened the envelope and read it to Jo. "Hey Mom and Dad, I'm having a great time at camp. I'm trying to get Kelsey to go in the lake. Annie started a food fight and I dumped a whole bowl of sloppy Joe meat on Kelsey's head, she cried for six hours…"

Blair heard Jo laughing on the other end of the phone.

"JO!" Blair whined.

"BLAIR!" Jo mimicked Blair's whining. "She's just having fun, they're kids. I'm sure Kelsey got over it already."

"It's not funny," Blair said.

"Yeah, you're right. It's not funny, it's hilarious," Jo said. "Is that all it said?"

"She says she misses you. That's about it."

Mrs. Garrett came back in the living room with the heating pad, a glass of water, and a pill. Mrs. Garrett motioned for Blair to lift her butt up, she did and Mrs. Garrett slid the heating pad under her.

"Did you get one from Kelsey?" Jo asked.

"Yeah, but Sammy ate it before I could read it." Blair took the pill from Mrs. Garrett and put it in her mouth. She took a few sips of water.

"I'm sorry, that sucks."

"Yeah, it was ruined." Blair put the glass of water on the table.

"Listen, I'm going to let you go. Take a nap, you sound really tired."

"I'm fine, Jo."

"Yeah, uh huh, okay. Bye, Blair."

"Bye Jo," Blair hung up the phone. The heating pad felt really nice, she rolled over on the couch so that it was directly on her right side.

* * *

Natalie entered the diner across the street from the bookstore. Eric was sitting at a table by the window looking at the menu. Natalie saw him and went over to the table and sat down across from him.

"Sorry, I'm a little late," Natalie said. "The book signing ran over, it was the longest line I've had yet."

"That's alright, I actually haven't been waiting that long," Eric said. "I understand that the line would be long in this area. The community here and in surrounding cities loves Blair. We didn't even know her name, but everyone wanted to see her get better. They had organized benefits to help pay for her medical procedures. When she was transferred to another hospital, we didn't know what happened after that. We had heard that the donations towards her medical bills were being forwarded to the next hospital."

"The community really did all that?"

"Yeah, the whole state was captivated by her story. I live in Colorado Springs, the guys and I used to visit her at the hospital every day to see how she was doing. Then they transferred her, and the hospital couldn't or wouldn't release the details of where she went. They assured everyone that donations were put into her account for medical bills though. There were a few really rich folks that made huge donations and that covered her bigger operations."

"Well, I'm sure Blair would like to give back to the community. The Warner's are big donators themselves."

"They don't have to do that, we are just happy to know that she's okay."

"She's still on some medications, but she's been doing pretty well. You know from reading the book how her recovery went," Natalie said. "How did you guys find her though?"

"Well, I was at home watching TV, when I heard the fire whistle blow. My pager went off a few minutes later. It wasn't even on the news yet…"

_August 26, 1991_

_Eric was lounging around at home when he heard the fire whistle blow. He sat and watched some silly game show on TV. Some woman in her twenties was trying to win a car. A few minutes later his pager went off. He got up off the couch and went into his kitchen to call the rescue office._

_One of his buddies answered the phone on the first ring._

"_What's going on?" Eric asked._

"_A commercial jet crashed into the mountain, they need help looking for survivors. They aren't really expecting any, the plane exploded. But on the off chance that someone survived, they are going to need help getting them down."_

"_I'm on my way." _

_Eric grabbed his gear and made his way to the site. Fifteen more of the volunteers in the group showed up. Eric could see black smoke rising from the mountain top. _

_Eric and the others were brought as close to the crash site as possible and dropped on the mountain by helicopter. They spread out, hooked their ropes up and went down the mountain._

_Eric landed on a ledge near some plane wreckage. The fire squad had put out the fire by dropping water from helicopters. Eric saw movement out of the corner of his eye. It looked like a hand was sticking out under some debris. _

_Eric quickly went over to the person. It was a woman. She looked like she had been on fire at some point. She was badly burned. She was lying on her right side pinned beneath a large piece of plane wreckage. Eric saw that the woman was conscious. He saw the fear in her eyes when he looked at her._

"_My name is Eric. I'm going to stay with you."_

_He saw relief on her face._

"_Can you tell me your name?"_

_The woman tried to speak, but she started coughing up blood._

"_Alright, never mind don't talk."_

_Eric walked out of the woman's line of vision and he heard her make a small whining noise._

"_I'm right here. I'm not going to leave you."_

_The woman seemed to settle down. Eric got on his radio and told the others he found a survivor and needed backup and a medic. He looked at his GPS and gave them his location._

_Eric sat with her until help arrived. His buddy, Chris, was coming down the mountain with two EMT's and stretcher. The EMT's in Colorado Springs were all experienced mountain climbers. _

_The EMT's accessed the situation and figured out the best way to get the debris off of her. Eric and Chris helped the EMT's move the metal object off of her body._

_The woman screamed when they moved it and fell unconscious._

"_She's hemorrhaging." one of the EMT's said and tried to stop the bleeding._

_Eric felt like throwing up. He couldn't believe the woman was still in one piece or even alive. She had burns on probably half of her body. He could tell that she had multiple bone fractures. She was bleeding from her abdomen. _

_The EMT's rolled her onto the stretcher, they tried to stabilize her. They called for Life Flight to come pick her up._

_The helicopter showed up a few minutes later. They hooked the stretcher to a rope that was hanging from the helicopter. The EMT's relayed all the medical info they had to the EMT's waiting in the chopper. They pulled the stretcher up into the chopper and took off._

"She was the only survivor that I found that day." Eric said. "All together, our group pulled five survivors off the mountain. Only three of them had been identified by family members in the immediate aftermath."

Natalie was in tears. She understood why Blair didn't talk about the plane crash. She didn't know if she even remembered the details of her rescue. Natalie decided she would wait until she got home to talk the others about what she learned. It was a conversation she felt should be done in person.

* * *

The phone ringing woke Blair up. She was still on the couch. She had a blanket over her. Mrs. Garrett must have put it over her. Blair didn't mean to fall asleep, but the pain medication made her drowsy. Blair answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey Blair, it's me," Natalie said.

"Hey Nat, what's up?"

"Nothing much, I was just wondering if I had any more letters from Annie."

Blair rubbed her eyes. "The mail is a mess, Nat. I dropped it all on the floor as soon as I got in the door with it."

"Why? What happened?"

"Well it's going to rain soon, and Sammy jumped on me."

Natalie understood what Blair meant by that. "I'm sorry, maybe you should be a weather girl. I hear channel 7 is hiring."

"I feel a little better now. I took a pain pill. I can dig through the mail and see if you have anything." Blair got off the couch and walked over to the mail pile and began to go through it.

Blair didn't find one for Natalie, but she found one for her.

"Sorry Nat, you don't have one. She sent me another one." Blair said. Blair tore it open and read it.

"What does it say?"

"She says Scott asked her to the dance and she wants makeup for it."

"Is that it?"

"She says Kelsey fainted, but I already knew that. The nurse called and told me."

"Is she okay?"

"Yeah, she's fine. They said they won't make her kiss the moose anymore. It's gross anyway."

"Well, I think Annie is too young for makeup. She doesn't need it. She doesn't even know how to put it on."

"Natalie, you and Tootie were putting makeup on when you were around her age. Kelsey knows how to put makeup on."

"Now why doesn't that surprise me? Alright, you can send her makeup. Just don't get the expensive stuff. Get it at the drugstore and I'll pay you back."

* * *

July 30th, 1997

Mary was picking at her pancakes.

"These pancakes are gross," Mary said. Mary looked at her plate. She had a stack of pancakes and some sausage. "Everything is gross today."

"You put it on your plate, you have to eat it." Annie said. Annie took a bite of her sausage. "It tastes fine."

"I'm not eating it," Mary said.

"Don't you dare throw it at me," Annie said.

"Don't worry, I won't." Mary said. Mary dumped all her food into her napkin and wrapped it up with more napkins. She hid it in the pocket of her shorts.

* * *

Later at lunch, Annie had to go to the bathroom. She had a problem though. No one wanted to go with her.

"Come on guys, someone go with me," Annie said.

"No one else has to go, Annie. Why don't you just go by yourself?" Jamie asked. "You used to do it all time."

"That was before I saw the Ice Princess," Annie said. "Come on guys, please."

"We're trying to eat our food," Jamie said.

Across the mess hall, Katie was trying to stop a five year old blonde girl from leaving the mess hall without a buddy.

"But I have to go potty," the little girl said.

"You need a buddy," Katie told her.

The five year olds were the youngest campers and sometimes they forgot the rules.

"But no one else has to go," she said.

"Don't worry, I'll find a buddy for you." Katie stood on a chair and whistled.

Everyone stopped what they were doing. "If there are any girls that need to go to the bathroom, I have someone here who needs a buddy."

Annie jumped out of her chair and was across the mess hall in a flash.

"Thanks, Annie," Katie said.

"No one would go with me, either." Annie said. Annie and the little girl ran outside.

Annie looked at the girl while they walked to the bathroom. She was wearing a Minnie Mouse shirt with pink shorts that had Hello Kitty's face on them. _That's an odd combo._ Annie loved them both, but would never have worn them together.

"I'm Annie, what's your name?"

"Ella," the girl said. "I really have to go. Can we run?"

"Yeah, I guess. Let's go."

Annie and Ella ran to the bathroom. The door was open, when it was usually closed. They got inside and Ella screamed. Annie looked at what Ella screamed at. Annie took a step back and hit the wall. She was looking into the eyes of a huge, hungry, black bear.


	7. Princess Daredevil

Chapter 7

July 30th, 1997

Annie and Ella were standing five feet in front of a two hundred pound black bear. Annie really wished she had paid more attention to the instructional video on black bear encounters that all the campers had to watch the first night. The only thing she remembered about it was that Billy, the camper in the video's scenario, had did everything wrong and had been killed. Annie had thought the video was boring and a waste of time, since no one had ever seen a black bear on the campgrounds. She knew from one of her _Zoobooks_ that black bears tended to avoid humans.

Ella was standing beside Annie trembling. She had tears running down her face.

"W-We're going to e-end up l-like B-Billy," Ella cried.

"No, we ain't. Billy was an idiot, we're going to be smart," Annie said. "Tell me what you remember about the video."

"I-I n-need to t-think," Ella said. "Um…D-Don't play d-d-dead, it w-will e-e-eat you."

"No one's getting eaten," Annie said.

Annie kept her eye contact with the bear. The bear's ears went back and it charged them and swiped Annie's shoulder with its paw, digging its claws into her skin. Annie and Ella screamed and backed up against the wall.

"D-Don't l-look at its e-eyes," Ella said.

"Now you tell me," Annie looked at her shoulder, it was bleeding and it hurt a lot. "What else?"

"T-Throw s-s-something at it," Ella said.

Annie saw rolls of toilet paper stacked next to the wall. She winced as she tried to reach them with her injured arm. They were too far away. Annie sidestepped slowly against the wall towards the toilet paper. Ella followed Annie and did the same. The problem was that as they did this they were getting closer to the bear.

The bear charged them and Ella screamed. Annie threw Ella behind her and shielded her, but did not move from her position. Annie finally remembered something from the video: _don't run_. Annie stood her ground, the bear was bluffing. The bear backed away from them.

"P-Put your arms up above your h-head and w-w-wave them around." Annie said. Annie put her arms up and did the same.

Annie and Ella continued sidestepping against the wall towards the toilet paper rolls. Annie reached out to grab one when the bear, which was still cornered, charged again. Ella screamed.

Annie grabbed a roll of toilet paper and threw it at the bear's face. The bear backed away towards the open door. The bear had an escape route now that Annie and Ella had moved away from the door. Annie was hoping the bear would leave. Ella trembled behind Annie.

"M-Make loud n-n-noises," Ella said.

"How am I supposed to do that?" Annie asked. There was nothing Annie could see that she could make noise with.

Ella started singing a song that Annie learned in Kindergarten: _If You're Happy and You Know It. _Annie joined in and soon they were both clapping and stomping their feet. The bear retreated out the door.

"Are you okay," Annie asked.

"Yeah, but there's blood on Minnie," Ella said.

"Lift your shirt up," Annie said.

Ella lifted her shirt up. She didn't have a scratch on her.

"It's my blood," Annie said.

Annie's shoulder was badly injured. She needed to get to the nurse. Annie walked over to the sink and grabbed a bunch of paper towels and got them wet before she pressed them to her wound.

"Hurry up and go to the bathroom, so we can go to the nurse," Annie said.

"It's too late, I already went," Ella said crying.

"It's okay, so did I," Annie said. "Don't cry about it."

"But you're a big kid," Ella said. Ella wiped the tears off of her face.

"Well, my mom told me once that sometimes grown-ups have accidents too. It's okay if it happens to big kids too, besides we couldn't make it because of the bear."

"I hope my mommy won't be mad at me," Ella said.

"Don't worry about it. She'll be happy you're alive. I'm sure she won't care about it and you're clothes can be washed. Mom's now how to get stains out."

"How do they do it?"

"I don't know, I think its magic or something."

Ella's eyes got big. "Wow!"

Annie and Ella heard footsteps approaching the bathroom. Katie came in with Ella's counselor, Michelle.

"I saw a bear come out of here. Are you two okay?" Katie asked.

"She's fine, but the bear got my shoulder," Annie said.

"Let's go to the nurse." Katie led them out of the bathroom.

* * *

After Colorado, Natalie made stops in Salt Lake City and Seattle. Now Natalie was in Los Angeles, California. Her line was getting shorter. The store manager had already capped the line off. Just a few more people and she could go back to her hotel and relax. A skinny, blonde, woman wearing sunglasses and a hat was next in line. Natalie knew who she was right away, even though she was trying to disguise herself. Blair had every magazine that featured her face on the cover.

"Cindy, it's so great to see you," Natalie jumped up and ran around the table. "How are you?"

"I'm doing great. I hope no one else recognizes me." Cindy said adjusting her hat. "It's always a zoo if someone spots me."

"Blair grabs all the magazines with you on the cover, whenever she's out shopping," Natalie said. "You're popular right now. I think she's a little jealous."

"That sounds like her, what's she doing now that she's better?" Cindy asked.

"She's a stay at home mom."

"She's not a lawyer? I thought she was going to law school."

"She never finished law school after she bought Eastland. Then she got married and got pregnant, and then she got hurt and recovered, so she's a stay at home mom now. She doesn't talk about finishing law school ever. I don't know if she wants to."

"So she still owns Eastland?" Cindy asked.

"Yeah, she does. Since she found a new headmaster and hired more staff, she doesn't go over there much anymore. She still goes to board meetings and signs the checks though. Her father took care of Eastland and the community center while she was gone. When everyone found out Tad and Blair survived the crash, Blair's father signed both properties back over to her, when he felt she could handle them again."

"So how many kids does she have?"

"Two girls, Kelsey and Amanda,"

"I wish I had kids, but I'm not married and having a baby would probably ruin my modelling career."

"You could always adopt, that's what I did," Natalie said. "My daughter, Annie is ten now." Natalie walked around the table and started signing Cindy's book.

"It was nice seeing you," Cindy said taking her book back. "I'll let you take care of the rest of these people. I need to get out of here, before I'm spotted."

Cindy left and Natalie took care of the rest of the line.

It was 4:45 when Natalie finally made it back to her hotel. She went to the front desk to see if she had any messages. The guy at the front desk was waiting for her.

"Mrs. Robinson, you have a message from Blair. She says call the camp, it's an emergency."

* * *

Jason had left messages at all the emergency contact numbers listed on Annie's medical form. He hadn't been able to reach anyone. He hoped someone would call back soon. They had taken Annie to the hospital, where she had gotten eleven stitches in her left shoulder. She was back at camp now sitting in his office in a chair next to a pink duffel bag with Hello Kitty's face on it and a pillow and sleeping bag with Minnie Mouse on it.

Ella's parents had also been called. Her mother had driven from Pennsylvania and pulled both Ella and her seven year old brother, Ethan, out of the camp early. Ethan was sitting next to all of his stuff crying, because he didn't want to go home yet.

"It's not fair," Ethan cried. "Ella's fine. Why do I have to go home?"

Jason wrote a refund check to Ella's mother for the last two weeks of camp.

"Hush, Ethan," his mother said. "Get up, its time to go."

Ethan reluctantly got up and followed his mother and sister out the door with all their stuff.

Annie hoped her mom wasn't going to make her come home too. She wanted to stay for the square dance. Other than the stitches in her shoulder, she was fine.

Jason's phone rang and he answered it. He explained everything and then gave the phone to Annie.

"Your mother wants to talk to you," Jason said.

Annie grabbed the phone.

"Hey Mom, I'm fine."

"I'm canceling the rest of my book tour and coming home. I'm picking you up from camp."

"No, Mom please don't, I'm fine. I want to stay here."

"You got attacked by a bear, you have eleven stitches. You're coming home."

"But Mom, the square dance is in two weeks. I want to go to it. Please Mom? It's just a little scratch on my shoulder. I'm fine," Annie pleaded.

"Did the other girl go home?" Natalie asked.

"Yeah, but she is five. I'm ten, I'm not a baby. Please let me stay, I don't want to go home," Annie cried.

"Alright, Annie, you can stay as long as you take care of your shoulder and don't get the stitches wet. You let the nurse look at it every day. If they call me and say it's infected, you're coming home."

"Thank you, Mom. I promise I'll take care of it," Annie said relieved.

"I thought black bears avoided people. What was it doing in the bathroom?" Natalie asked.

"Someone threw food in the bathroom garbage," Annie said. "Everyone's going to get a lecture at dinner."

"Alright, put Jason back on the phone."

* * *

Aug 2nd, 1997

Mrs. Garrett, Blair, and Amanda were at the airport waiting for Bruce's plane to arrive. Mrs. Garrett had her suitcase packed. When Bruce arrived they would have two hours to wait at the airport, before she and Bruce got on a plane to Florida. There they would board a cruise ship for the next two weeks.

Blair was trying not to show it, but she was freaking out inside. Seeing planes take off and land brought back bad memories. She didn't want Mrs. Garrett to know that she was about to have a panic attack. Mrs. Garrett would probably cancel her trip with Bruce and Blair didn't want to be the reason that they didn't go on the cruise.

Mrs. Garrett looked at her watch and then at the arrival board. Bruce's plane should be arriving in five minutes. Mrs. Garrett looked at Blair. She saw dark circles under Blair's eyes. Something else was wrong too, Blair was tense. She was white as a sheet and was holding Amanda in a death grip.

Amanda started crying and trying to get off of Blair's lap.

"Sweetheart, are you alright?" Mrs. Garrett asked.

_Uh-oh, she knows something is wrong._ Blair loosened her grip on Amanda. "I'm fine. I'm just going to go sit over there." Blair stood up and walked over to some chairs that were facing the wall. Now she didn't have to see the planes take off and land.

Mrs. Garrett watched Blair trying to coax Amanda to talk. Amanda was almost sixteen months old and hadn't said her first words yet. The baby books had said that most babies have uttered their first words by now. Amanda's pediatrician wasn't worried yet though, not all babies develop at the name pace. Mrs. Garrett noticed Blair seemed more relaxed now sitting over there.

Mrs. Garrett looked at the arrival board and saw that Bruce's plane had landed. He would be coming through the gate any minute. The doors to the gate opened and people started coming out.

Mrs. Garrett called over to Blair. "Honey, he'll be coming out soon."

Blair stood up, put Amanda on her hip and walked over to where Mrs. Garrett was standing. Bruce came out of the terminal and Mrs. Garrett ran to him and wrapped her arms around him. Blair watched as Bruce kissed Mrs. Garrett. Blair had tears running down her face, it was so romantic. It was just like in the movies she used to watch where sailors came home from the Navy and kissed their wives at the airport.

"I missed you so much, Edna."

"I missed you too, Bruce." Mrs. Garrett pulled away from Bruce and gave him a once over. "Brucie, you're so thin."

"I'm okay, Edna. I'm sure I'll fatten up when I eat your home cooking." Bruce saw Blair standing behind Mrs. Garrett. "You're Blair, right?"

"Yeah, that's me."

"And this must be Amanda?" Bruce asked.

"Yeah, this is Amanda," Blair said. Blair felt like she was intruding on Bruce and Mrs. Garrett's reunion.

"Where are the rest of them?" Bruce asked. "Edna talks about all of you all the time."

"The other girls are all out of town and the all the children are at summer camp." Mrs. Garrett said.

"I was hoping to meet everyone else," Bruce said. "I've heard so much about everyone."

"You'll see them when we get back from our cruise," Mrs. Garrett said. "They'll all be back by then."

"I'm going to go take Amanda home, it's almost nap time," Blair said.

"Honey, are you sure you're going to be okay alone at the house?" Mrs. Garrett asked.

"I'll be fine, Mrs. Garrett," Blair said. "You guys have fun on your cruise. Don't worry about me."

"We'll have fun and you promise me you'll try to get some sleep."

"I'll try," Blair said. "I'm glad you're home, Bruce. We'll see you in two weeks."

Blair hugged both of them and waved goodbye, before she left the airport.

* * *

Natalie was in Las Vegas, Nevada. She had signed books in Vegas all day the previous day. Now she had the weekend to herself, so she had invited Tootie to meet her at her hotel. A cab pulled up in front of the hotel doors and Natalie saw Tootie get out of it with a small suitcase.

The doorman opened the door for Tootie and Natalie ran over to her and gave her a hug.

"How was the flight?" Natalie asked.

"It was quiet, no screaming babies," Tootie said.

"I'll take you up to our room." Natalie said. Natalie pushed the button for the elevator.

"So what do you want to do tonight?" Tootie asked.

"I was thinking we could have dinner at the casino, get some drinks, and maybe gamble a little."

The elevator came down and opened. They got in the elevator and Natalie pushed the button for floor 11.

"So Annie got attacked by a bear?" Tootie asked.

"Yeah, she has eleven stitches in her shoulder. I wanted to pull her out of camp, but she begged me to let her stay and she said she was fine."

"She's lucky she wasn't killed," Tootie said.

They stepped off the elevator and Natalie led Tootie to the room and opened the door.

"I know," Natalie said. "How did pilot filming go?"

Tootie sat on the bed. "The network didn't pick up the show. The network kept telling the director to change actors in the cast. I didn't think the show was going to make it anyway. I would've never watched it myself. It wouldn't have made it into the Fall line up anyway, since the network released the schedule months ago. It could've been a show for next year though."

"I'm sorry, Tootie. What are you going to do now?"

"I'll just keep going to auditions. Maybe I can get another show."

"Do you want to head to the casino now or do you want to wait."

"I'm starving. All they had on the plane were those little bags of peanuts. Let's go to the casino."

* * *

Jo was cooking dinner in the kitchen of the cottage they rented. The cottage was two stories. It had three bedrooms, one with a double bed and two with bunk beds. There was plenty of room to bring Jamie along sometime. Jo knew Jamie would love it here. She could go fishing with her dad and go out in the row boat.

Rick was sitting in the living room tying lures to his fishing pole. The little TV was on playing the news. The news anchor said something about Peekskill that Rick and Jo couldn't hear, because the volume wasn't on high enough.

"Turn that up, Rick."

Rick grabbed the remote and turned the volume up.

_Another robbery in Peekskill, New York has residents on edge. Peekskill resident Sally Birch told Channel 7 that she was getting ready to go to bed last night, when a man with a gun came out of a closet he was hiding in. The culprit got away with her jewelry and is still on the loose. He is considered armed and dangerous. This is the third robbery in the past week. Birch was lucky she got away from the man with only minor injuries._

"Doesn't Sally Birch live a few houses down from Mrs. Garrett?" Rick asked.

"Yeah, she does. Mrs. Garrett was supposed to leave with Bruce today. I'm worried about Blair though, she's at the house alone." Jo flipped the fish in the pan.

"Jo, you always worry about Blair. You don't like her being alone even if there isn't an armed robber on the loose. She's a big girl. She can take care of herself. Besides she has the dog."

"Sammy is not exactly a good guard dog. He's too friendly, he likes everybody. He won't even bark at the mailman. He'll probably show the robber where the jewelry is."

"Isn't Tootie around?"

"She was supposed to meet Natalie in Vegas," Jo said. "Jeff might be home though. I guess she could always call him if there's a problem."

Rick finished with his fishing rod. "I'm going fishing tonight. They say there's a big bass in the lake that has eluded everyone. I'm going to try to catch it."

"While you're gone, I'm going to go walk down to the payphone and see if I can call Jeff and ask him to keep an eye on the house."

"Why don't you just call Blair?"

"Because, she'll just think I'm checking up on her."

"Well you are, aren't you?"

"Yeah, but I don't want her to know that."

"You can always call the station and ask them to watch the house. I'm sure they'll do it."

"They're probably watching the neighborhood already, but I want to call and see what's going on anyway." Jo put the fish she was cooking on two plates. "Dinner's ready."

* * *

Blair was finally alone in the house for the first time in ages. She had just put Amanda to bed for the night. Now she was bored.

Blair lay on the couch and turned herself so that her feet were on the back of the couch and her head was dangling off the edge upside down. She wanted to do something she would never do in front of the girls, something that her mother would never approve of, and something that may be considered a little crazy and out of character. This would probably be her only chance for a long time and she didn't want to waste the moment.

Blair thought to herself for a moment while her head hung off the back of the couch, her long blonde hair touching the floor. A smile spread across her face as she figured out what she wanted to do. Blair righted herself on the couch. She stood up and ran upstairs. She was going to act like a child again. No one was here to stop her from having the fun she wasn't allowed to have when she was growing up.

An hour later, Blair came downstairs all dressed up in a pink silk ball gown with a skirt made out of yards and yards of pink tulle. She had completed her outfit with pink ballet flats and a diamond tiara. Her long blonde hair was left loose along her shoulders.

Princess Blair had arrived.

Blair sat on the couch. She would never wear this outfit around the house just for kicks in front of the girls. Jo teased her enough about acting like a princess. She didn't need to see her dressed like one too for no other reason except that she wanted to.

Blair thought for a moment. Now that she was dressed all fancy, she wanted to do something that her mother would never approve of. She remembered when she was at Tad's birthday party in Kindergarten and they were having pizza. Mother wouldn't allow her to have any, because she was afraid Blair would get it on her pretty dress. Blair smiled mischievously. She picked up the phone and called the pizza place.

Blair hung up the phone after ordering a pizza with extra sauce, extra cheese, pepperoni, pineapple, anchovies, black olives, bacon, sausage, etc. Whatever you could find on a pizza, Blair ordered it on hers. Maybe she would go wild and eat the whole thing too. Mrs. Garrett was worried Blair was getting too skinny again, so she would probably be happy if she ate the whole thing.

Blair wanted to do something reckless while she waited for her pizza to arrive. She wondered if all their boxes that were in the attic years ago were still in the garage where they were put when they turned the attic into a loft for Natalie and Tootie, the room that belonged to Kelsey and Amanda now. Blair stood up and walked across the living room and opened the door that led to the garage.

Blair turned the light on in the garage. The light shined bright on her candy apple red Porsche. Blair spotted a stack of boxes in the corner. She walked over to them and started digging through them, she couldn't find what she was looking for.

Blair looked around the garage. It was getting darker outside, she could see the sunlight fading through the windows on the big garage door. She spotted a plastic, round, sled hanging on the wall on the left side of her car. Blair was pretty sure the sled belonged to Natalie, but Natalie wasn't using it right now and she would never know.

It was perfect.

Blair grabbed the sled and took it in the house. She took it to the top of the stairs and sat down on it. She tucked her dress in under her. She used her hands to push off the top step. She flew down the stairs and landed in the kitchen. She almost crashed into the cabinets. It was fun. Overprotective, Jo would never have allowed her to do this. She would've had a fit if she knew what she was doing. Mrs. Garrett wouldn't be too thrilled either. They were all afraid she would get hurt again doing the simplest things that all children did growing up, like riding a bike. Mother never allowed her to even sled on snow. She always felt that it wasn't ladylike.

Sledding down the stairs was fun, but Blair wanted to do something faster and more dangerous. Maybe if she looked again, she could find what she was looking for in the first place.

Blair went back in the garage. She dug through the boxes again determined to find what she was looking for this time. Then she saw it, a box with Tootie's name on it stacked on top of a box with Jo's name on it. She was glad she found the boxes. She was afraid if she got into anymore boxes she would find the stuff she didn't want to see, the things that would bring back all the sadness and memories of losing 'Baby B,' the smaller twin.

Blair pulled the boxes from the stack. She opened Tootie's, inside were Tootie's old roller skates. Blair slung them over her shoulder. Blair opened Jo's box wither free hand, inside was Jo's old motorcycle helmet. It still had a piece of paper taped to it.

_Touch this and you're dead where you stand._

Jo would never know. Blair was never planning on telling anyone about any of this.

Blair took the helmet and skates into the house and set them on the floor next to the door. She went back in the garage and looked for something that she could use as a ramp. She found a big piece of plywood leaning against the wall.

It was perfect. It looked like it would work nicely.

Blair took it in the house and placed it on the stairs. She moved the table and chairs out of the way, before she took the skates and helmet into the kitchen. She went up the kitchen stairs and appeared on the landing in the living room, right at the top of her plywood ramp.

Blair sat on the steps and pulled her ballet flats and tiara off and put on Tootie's skates and Jo's helmet. She stood up, she was a little wobbly. She stepped on the plywood.

Blair rolled down the ramp fast and crash landed into the wall. She would have bruises later, but they were worth it. She was having fun. The doorbell rang, the pizza had arrived. Blair picked herself up off the floor and skated to the door.

The young delivery boy looked at her strangely as she paid for her pizza. She knew she probably looked ridiculous. She didn't care though, she wasn't likely to ever see him again and he probably didn't know who she was. They didn't even use her name on the pizza box, it was Beverly Ann's. Beverly Ann must have been the last one to order pizza. That must have been a long time ago. The pizza delivery boy would probably go back to the shop and tell everyone that that Beverly Ann lady sure is weird.

Blair put her pizza on the coffee table. She sat down on the couch and pulled the helmet and skates off. She put everything back in the garage and closed the door. Her hands were all dirty, so she went and washed them in the kitchen before opening the pizza box.

Blair grabbed a coloring book and crayons out of the drawer. She turned to a random page and began coloring with her right hand while she ate pizza with her left. It didn't take long for Blair to get pizza sauce on her dress. She reached back and unzipped the back and stepped out of it. Now down to her matching, satin, bra and panty set, she took her dress into the kitchen and opened the basement door.

As soon as she opened the door, Sammy barked and growled. He had been lying next to the door before she opened it. Blair had never heard Sammy growl before. He was clearly agitated as he followed Blair down the stairs. Sammy pulled on Blair's panties trying to get her to stop going down.

"Stop it, Sammy." Blair pulled her panties back up. "There's nothing down here, we're alone."

Blair took her dress to the sink and started looking at various laundry products to see what would work to remove the tomato sauce stain from her dress. She would have to take it in to the dry cleaner in the morning, but she wanted to get as much of the stain out as possible.

Sammy walked around the basement for a while and then he ran upstairs. Blair guessed that he was satisfied that there was nothing down here. Blair looked over her shoulder. She couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched. All she saw was the dark, creepy, unfinished, concrete, basement. She really hated being down in the basement at night, but she had to get the stain out of her dress. She went back to work on the stain, she opened a box of cornstarch that was on the shelf and poured it on the stain.

Blair got goose bumps, the hairs on the back of her neck stood up, and a chill went down her spine as she heard a man's voice behind her.

"You're not alone anymore."


	8. Medical Emergencies

Chapter 8

August 2nd, 1997

Blair froze and dropped her dress on the sink. She was not as alone as she thought she was, but at the same time she was completely alone. There was no one home that she could call for help. She didn't know why Sammy went back upstairs. He wouldn't be of any help anyway. He wasn't an aggressive dog. What if Sammy went upstairs because the intruder wasn't working alone? What if someone else was in the house and they got to Amanda? Sammy was protective of the baby, he always ran into her room when he heard her crying.

Blair's heart pounded in her chest as she heard the man getting closer to her from behind. She saw the staircase out of the corner of her eye. She decided she had to make a break for it. Blair was grateful that her joints weren't bothering her today, because she didn't think there would be any chance she could get away from this guy otherwise.

Blair dashed to the staircase and ran up the stairs. She heard the man rush to chase her behind her. She heard him running up the stairs behind her.

Blair tripped near the top. That gave the man a chance to grab her ankle. Blair screamed and kicked him in the face. He fell backwards down the stairs. Blair heard the man groan as he landed at the bottom.

Blair ran the rest of the way up the stairs, into the kitchen and slammed the basement door. She locked the deadbolt on it.

Blair leaned against the door and tried to catch her breath. She needed to see if Amanda was okay, but the thought came back into her mind that the intruder may have accomplices.

Blair walked into the living room, slowly peeking around the corner before she entered. She opened the closet next to the stairs slowly, afraid that someone might jump out at her. It was empty and Blair sighed in relief. She dug through the closet and found Tad's baseball bat.

Blair went upstairs slowly with the bat slung over her right shoulder. She picked up her tiara and shoes along the way. The door to Kelsey and Amanda's room was open. She peeked in making sure no one was in there before she entered. Sammy was lying on the floor under Amanda's crib, the baby was asleep.

Blair looked under Kelsey's bed, all she found was a stray sock and some dust bunnies. She looked in the closet. Satisfied that no one was hiding, Blair back tracked and shut the door to the room and locked it. She went through the other door into her and Tad's room.

Blair looked across the room. The door leading to the hallway was open. She looked over at her dressing table and saw that her jewelry box was still intact. The room showed no signs of being rifled through.

Blair shut the door to the kid's room and locked it. She went in the bathroom and she slowly moved back the shower curtain. She sighed in relief when she saw the empty bathtub. She left the bathroom and shut the door.

Blair walked through the rest of the room and made sure no one was hiding anywhere. She opened the closet and found no one. She shut the door to the room that led into the hallway and locked it.

Blair ran to the cordless phone on the desk and called the police. She looked down at her leg, it was bleeding. She stayed on the line with the police while she went in the bathroom to bandage her leg. Blair cleaned up her leg and looked in the medicine cabinet. All she could find was Kelsey's Barbie Band-Aids. Blair unwrapped one and put it on.

* * *

Jo walked back to the cottage from the payphone. She had tried to call Jeff, but he wasn't home. She had left a message on the answering machine asking if he would check on Blair. She had also called the station to see if they were watching the neighborhood. She had also tried to call Blair, but the phone was busy.

Jo sat down in the cottage and picked up her book and began reading. Rick had left a half hour ago and was fishing somewhere on the lake trying to catch 'the big one.'

Jo was halfway through chapter fifteen, when she heard screaming outside. It sounded like Rick, but he was screaming like a little girl. Jo put her bookmark in the book and threw it on the couch, before running outside.

Jo ran down to the dock, where she found Rick tying up the boat. He was screaming in pain.

"What happened?"

"I went to cast my line and I hooked myself. The hook is stuck in my back."

Jo looked at Rick's back. The hook was in his back pretty good.

"Can you get it out?" Rick asked. "I cut the line, so I'm not dragging a fishing rod around.

Jo pulled on the hook and Rick screamed.

"Ow, ow, stop, that hurts."

"You asked me to pull it out," Jo said. "You got the barb on the end stuck in there."

Rick was making so much noise that it attracted the attention of the other renters and some of them came down to the docks to see if they could help.

They all took turns yanking on the hook, while Rick screamed and said things that would make a sailor blush.

"Maybe we should just go to the hospital," Jo said. "They'll probably be able to get it out."

"We don't know where the hospital is," Rick said.

"We can ask the owners for directions," Jo said. "Go wait in the car, I'll be there soon."

Jo walked to the owner's house and Rick walked to the car. Jo got in the car a few minutes later with a piece of paper.

* * *

Blair threw a robe on when she heard the police outside. The dispatcher told her to stay where she was until a police officer told her it was safe to come out.

A half an hour later the police knocked on the bedroom door.

"It's the police, open up."

Blair opened the door.

"Are you alright?"

Blair nodded. "Did you get him?"

Blair walked the police officer downstairs.

"Sorry Ma'am, he got away. He escaped the same way he got in, through your basement window. It's broken and you'll want to get someone to board that up for you, until you can get it replaced. We went through the whole house, it's secure. We have men out looking for him and we'll have a unit out front keeping watch."

"Thank you, Officer."

The police left and Blair locked the door behind him. She made sure all the doors and windows were locked and then she tried to call Jeff, but he wasn't home. Blair went upstairs and locked herself in her bedroom. She left the light on and lay in her bed. She clutched the baseball bat to her chest like a teddy bear. There was no way she was sleeping tonight.

* * *

August 3rd, 1997

A thunderstorm had rolled in that morning at the camp. No one was allowed outside until half an hour after the last thunderclap was heard.

Hayley was miserable, she was stuck with a camper that was deathly afraid of thunder. As soon as the first thunderclap was heard, Elsie had grabbed onto her leg and started crying.

The other kids had tried to help Elsie calm down to no avail. Hayley was hoping it would stop soon. She wished they could have at least been in the same building as Brett, but he was stuck with his campers in the mess hall and Hayley's campers were stuck in their cabin.

* * *

In the mess hall the counselors has set up an arts and crafts table for the campers that were stuck there. Brett was in there with his campers, Katie's cabin, and Jessica's cabin were also in there with a few other counselors that had some of the younger campers. The rest of the campers were supposed to come to the mess hall when the rain stopped.

Brett knew about what was going on with Elsie. The counselors all carried two way radios with them and he had been in contact with Hayley. There wasn't much he could do with her being so far away from him.

Jamie was making a mask out of a paper plate. She was twisting tissue paper around the eraser end of a pencil and dipping it in glue before pressing it to the paper plate. The tissue paper stood up and she continued gluing squares of tissue paper around the paper plate in that manner.

"What's yours going to be?" Annie asked.

"I'm making a lion." Jamie said. She picked up a red square and wrapped it around the pencil.

"Mine's going to be an elephant," Annie said.

They continued making their masks for a while. Soon they noticed the mess hall doors had opened and Leah's cabin came in. Leah was carrying Kelsey and put her down when they got inside.

Jamie ran over to them.

"Really Kelsey, you had to be carried?" Jamie asked.

"I can't get wet. There are huge puddles out there." Kelsey said.

Jamie rolled her eyes. "Oh, brother, you are completely hopeless."

Kelsey ran over to Brett. "Where's Elsie? I have to see her, she's scared, and I can feel it."

"If the rain stopped, I'm sure she'll be in here soon," Brett said. "In the meantime, find a craft to do."

Kelsey ran to a table with painting supplies on it. She picked up a brush and started painting. She painted stick figures of Mrs. Garrett, Tad, Blair, herself, Elsie, Amanda, and Sammy standing outside a house as a family. Kelsey hoped that would be the way it would be from now on.

Hayley came in carrying Elsie a few minutes later. The rest of her group was trailing behind her. Elsie's face was red and tear stained. She ran to Brett when Hayley put her down.

"Are you alright?" Brett asked.

Elsie nodded.

Brett gave her a hug. "It's over now."

"I'm all better now," Elsie said.

Kelsey saw Elsie with Brett and ran over to them.

"Are you okay, Sissy?" Kelsey asked.

"I'm fine now that I'm back with you and the storm is over," Elsie said.

"Come on, let's go paint," Kelsey said.

Brett watched Kelsey and Elsie as they sat at the table laughing and painting. They had basically been attached at the hip, since they met each other. He was worried about how Elsie was going to survive without Kelsey when they had to separate and go home in two weeks. It sucked, twins should stay together.

Maybe he could convince his mother to move to Peekskill, it would work out for all of them. He could transfer to Langley and be with Katie, Elsie could be with Kelsey, and his mother, a nurse, could get a job at any hospital. They didn't have to stay in Pennsylvania, there was nothing keeping them there. Sure they all had friends there, but Brett's friends had all gone away to college. Elsie didn't have many friends back home. She could make new friends in Peekskill. She had already made some.

* * *

Since it had rained earlier that day, the counselors decided it was a good time for a game of tug of war. The mud pit was nice and muddy. The kids were all gathered around it, waiting to be sorted into two teams. The counselors said that Elsie and Annie would have to sit the activity out. Elsie wouldn't be able to participate due to her broken arm and Annie could not do anything that could rip her stitches. Both of them were upset about this, so Brett named them team captains.

Elsie and Annie each took turns picking team mates. Elsie's team included Kelsey, Brett, Katie, Hayley, Tisha, and the rest of her bunk mates, and Kelsey's bunkmates among various other boys and girls. Annie's team included Scott, Jamie, Leah, Jessica, Mary, Beth, Missy, the girls in Jamie's cabin, and the boys in Scott's cabin among others.

Elsie and Annie sat on the sidelines, while everyone grabbed hold of the rope. Somehow Kelsey ended up in the front of the line facing Jamie who was in the front of the line on the other side. They looked into each other's eyes.

"You're going in the mud, Warner." Jamie gripped the rope tightly.

"You wish." Kelsey held onto her section of the rope.

A whistle blew and both teams started pulling. Annie and Elsie cheered their teams on from the side. Jamie dug her heels into the mud as Elsie's team pulled the flag closer to them. Annie's team fought back and tugged the flag closer to them.

Annie was screaming for her team to pull harder. Elsie, being shyer than Annie, wasn't as loud in her cheering.

Suddenly, Annie's team dragged Kelsey and three others over the line and into the mud pit. Annie's team cheered.

Kelsey screamed when she recovered from the shock of face planting into the mud pit.

A male voice yelled, "throw her in the lake!"

Before Kelsey could comprehend those words, she felt herself being picked up by six twelve year old boys and being carried to the lake. The other kids all ran after them to watch.

Kelsey screamed the whole way. "Put me down."

The boys swung Kelsey into the lake off of the dock.

Jamie was rolling on the ground in a fit of hysterics.

Kelsey's head popped up from underneath the water. She screamed and scrambled to get out of the water. Kelsey walked out of the water, crying.

"You guys got my hair all wet." Kelsey started to wring her clothes out.

Jamie laughed even harder. "Oh man, y-you l-look like Swamp T-Thing."

"No, I don't," Kelsey yelled. "Shut up, Jamie!" Kelsey glared at Jamie.

Leah stepped between Kelsey and Jamie, before things escalated.

"Alright Jamie, that's enough. Kelsey, hit the showers."

Jamie stopped laughing and tried to catch her breath. Kelsey walked towards the bathroom with Leah. Jamie heard Kelsey talking to Leah as they walked away.

"Who is Swamp Thing?"

"Uh, don't worry about it."

* * *

August 4th, 1997

Sammy was barking and driving Blair nuts. She had just put Amanda down for a nap and she didn't want Sammy to wake her up. The police had called her and told her they caught the robber yesterday morning, and he was in jail. Jeff had come by and boarded up the basement window. The police were still patrolling the neighborhood, just to give the residents some peace of mind. Blair didn't think Sammy was riled up due to an intruder.

"Quiet, Sammy!"

Sammy whined and nudged her with his nose.

Blair opened the patio door.

"Do you want to go out?"

Sammy sat on the floor. Sammy barked at her again.

"I said be quiet."

Sammy barked at her.

"Go outside, Sammy, you're driving me up the wall."

Sammy stayed where he was sitting.

Blair shut the patio door, frustrated.

"You can stay in, if you're going to be quiet."

Blair walked to the couch and sat down. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes. A few seconds later, she heard the door open. Blair opened her eyes to see who was coming in.

"Hey!" Tootie said.

"Did you just get back from Vegas?"

"Yeah, I dropped my stuff at home, before I came over."

"Jo asked you to check up on me, didn't she?"

"No, she didn't," Tootie said.

"Why are you here then?"

"Be-cause…because I-I missed you."

"You're a bad liar, Tootie."

"Okay, so maybe I talked to Jo and Mrs. Garrett."

"Mrs. Garrett asked you to babysit me too?"

"Blair, they are just worried about leaving you alone after everything and Mrs. Garrett is worried, she told me you haven't been sleeping well."

Tootie noticed the bags under Blair's eyes.

"I'm fine," Blair said. "Sit down and tell me about Vegas."

Tootie sat in the chair near the fireplace.

"Well Nat won five-hundred dollars on the slot machines and…"

Blair stifled a yawn.

"Maybe you should go take your nap and I'll take care of Amanda when she wakes up."

"I'm not tired, finish your story."

Tootie knew she was lying, but she continued on.

"Well, after she won, we decided to get out of there and we had a girl's night, we went out shopping and then we went out for drinks."

"She didn't spend all of it, did she?"

"No, she wanted to find something special for Annie. She felt bad about giving her such a hard time before the kids left for camp. Did she tell you that Annie got attacked by a bear?"

"Yeah, she told me, I actually took the call from the camp and called Natalie's hotel. She told me Annie got eleven stitches in her back, she was lucky she wasn't killed. Nat told me she wanted to cancel the rest of her book tour and come home, but Annie told her she was fine and wanted to stay at camp."

"If it was me, I would've wanted to come home."

"Well Annie probably didn't want to miss the square dance, she's in love with a boy and he asked her to be his partner."

"How cute, how do you know all this?"

"She's been writing me letters about it. I convinced Natalie to let me send her some make-up."

Sammy started whining again.

"Sammy, what do you want now?" Blair whined.

"I think he wants your attention." Tootie said.

Blair put her hand on her stomach and closed her eyes.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, my stomach just feels funny. I think I'm going to go upstairs and lie down for a while."

"I think that's probably a good idea." Tootie was hoping Blair would fall asleep. "I'll take care of Amanda when she wakes up. Don't worry about her."

"Thanks, Tootie."

Blair stood up and headed upstairs. Sammy ran up after her.

Tootie heard a loud bang on the ceiling and Sammy started barking, followed by Amanda crying. Tootie ran up the stairs.

Tootie ran in the bedroom.

"Blair, are you alright? I heard…"

Tootie stood still at the sight. Blair was lying on the floor next to her bed in the midst of a violent seizure. Tootie remained calm, this wasn't the first time Blair had had a seizure, she was on medication for it and everyone knew what to do when she had one.

Tootie ran over to her and moved Blair away from the bed and nightstand. She grabbed a pillow and put it under Blair's head. Tootie rolled Blair on her left side.

After a minute or two the convulsions stopped and Tootie straightened Blair's left arm on the floor and bent her right arm over it. Then she bent Blair's right leg over her left leg, so they were locked together. Blood soaked the pillow. _She must have hit her head when she fell._

Blair came to a few minutes later and saw Tootie in the room.

"What are you doing in here? Why am I on the floor?"

"You had a seizure."

"My head hurts."

"You must have hit it when you fell. You have a gash on the side of your head that probably needs stitches."

Blair started crying.

"What's the matter?"

"I wet my pants."

"I know honey, it is okay. Sometimes that happens when a person has a seizure. When you feel well enough to sit up, we'll change your pants and go to the hospital to look at your cut."

"What about Amanda?"

"She's alright, Sammy went in there. We'll take her with us."

"Blair tried to get up and Tootie helped her. Tootie put Blair's back against the bed and grabbed a towel for Blair's head.

"Are you feeling alright?"

"Yeah, my head hurts though."

"We're going to go take care of that soon, okay?"

Tootie opened Blair's drawer and pulled out a pair of jeans.

* * *

4:37 PM

Tootie followed Blair into the house. Tootie was carrying Amanda and set her in her playpen.

"The doctor said you need to rest, so you should go upstairs and lay down," Tootie said. "I'll watch Amanda."

"Thanks, Tootie." Blair went upstairs.

The phone rang and Tootie answered it.

"Hello,"

"Hi, it's me," Jo said.

"Oh, hey Jo," Tootie glanced up the stairs.

"So, you checked in on Blair?"

"Yeah, she was totally on to me. She knows you and Mrs. Garrett asked me to check on her and she wasn't happy. It's a good thing I was here though, because she had a seizure and split her head open."

"She hit her head! Is she okay?"

"Yeah, she doesn't have a concussion or anything, she has seven stitches. I sent her upstairs to go lay down. She looks like she hasn't slept in days."

"She hasn't had a seizure in a while. I hope she's taking her medicine."

"Well, the doctor said the seizure might have been triggered by sleep deprivation."

"Has she said anything about the other night?" Jo said. "I talked to the guys at the station and they told me they were over there."

"She hasn't said a word about it. I only know about it because Jeff told me he boarded up the window," Tootie said. "So, how is your vacation going?"

"It's not the best one ever," Jo said. "I had to take Rick to the emergency room the other night."

"What happened?"

"He was out fishing and he got the hook stuck in his back."

"Ouch!"

"Yeah, everyone here tried to pull it out without any luck. We finally just went to the hospital and they cut it with wire cutters and had it out in thirty seconds. We should've just gone to the hospital in the first place."

"So, he's okay then?"

"Yeah, he has three stitches and he had to get a tetanus shot. He cried the entire time."

"I'm glad he's okay, I'm going to stay with Blair tonight. Tad will be home in the morning."

"Alright, thanks Tootie. That makes me feel better," Jo said. "I'll let you go, I'll call you tomorrow."

"Okay, bye Jo."

Tootie hung up the phone. She picked up Amanda out of her playpen.

"Let's go see if Mommy's resting."

Tootie took Amanda upstairs. She entered the bedroom. Blair was sprawled out on top of the comforter, asleep, her nose whistling with every breath.

"See, I told you, you were tired." Tootie found a blanket on the chair and used her free hand to cover Blair up. "Sweet dreams."

* * *

August 5th, 1997

Tootie was in the living room playing with Amanda the next morning, when Tad walked in the door.

"Hey Tootie, I hope Amanda wasn't too much trouble." Tad picked up Amanda. "How's my little princess? Can you say Daddy?"

Amanda just looked at him.

"Oh, not today, Daddy wants to hear your voice." Tad gave Amanda kisses on her cheek. Amanda laughed.

"Where's Blair?"

"She's still asleep. She's been asleep for seventeen hours."

"Thanks for staying with her last night. I guess that seizure really took a lot out of her."

"She needed the sleep anyway," Tootie said. "You heard about the break in, right?"

"Break in? No, she didn't tell me about that. What happened?"

"All I know is that someone got in through the basement window the other night. Jeff boarded up the window. She hasn't said anything to me about it. She was probably worried if we found out about it that we wouldn't let her stay home alone anymore."

"Well after everything that has happened, we have been a little overprotective."

"You guys are more than a little overprotective. You guys won't let her drive outside of the Peekskill area. She has to shop over the phone. Maybe it's time to cut the leash."

"I just worry that something will happen and she'll be too far away from us. Manhattan is an hour away, what if something happened while she was out there alone or even with the kids?"

"If something is going to happen, it's going to happen, even if she's at home. Just like something happened yesterday. Tad, I know what it's like to be treated like a baby. It's not fun. I think she just wants her independence back."

"She needs to get her seizures back under control. Then, if she wants to go to Manhattan, she can go. She has to take one of you girls with her though and she has to start wearing her medical bracelet."

"Well, I guess that sounds reasonable for now. I don't want anything to happen to her either, it would be better if she had another adult with her just in case. Why hasn't she been wearing her medical bracelet?"

"She says it's tacky and clashes with her outfits."

"Sounds like something she would say."

"Can you watch Amanda for a couple more hours?" Tad asked. "I didn't get enough sleep last night."

"Yeah, sure it's no problem."

"Thanks, Tootie." Tad walked up the stairs.

Tad went into the bedroom and found Blair still sleeping in the middle of the bed. She was still wearing her clothes from the previous day. Tad changed into shorts and a t-shirt and scooted Blair over to the right side of the bed and climbed in next to her.

Blair stirred and groaned. "Tad," she whined.

"Shh, go back to sleep." Tad wrapped his arms around her. "Are you feeling okay, angel?"

"Mm-hmm," Blair answered.

"Is your head alright?"

"Just sore," Blair answered half asleep.

Tad kissed her head and fell asleep holding her in his arms.

* * *

August 6th, 1997

Blair stood outside of a wooden door. The gold name plate on the door said _Dr. Gayle Bowers, PsyD._ She really didn't want to tell all her problems to a stranger, but she promised Mrs. Garrett.

Blair reached for the door knob and hesitated. Suddenly the door opened and a woman with short brown hair in her forties opened the door.

"Oh, you must be Blair Warner. Have a seat, I'll just be a minute." She rushed out of the room.

Blair entered and sat on a chair. She looked around the room. It was a cozy little room, with two big plush arm chairs, a desk, a couch, and a fireplace that Blair suspected wasn't real. Blair wrung her hands as she waited for the doctor to come back. She still had time to make a break for it. She could tell Mrs. Garrett she went. She did make it all the way into the office after all.

The doctor came back before Blair could make up her mind about leaving. She sat down in the other armchair with a note pad. She introduced herself to Blair and shook her hand.

"Now since this is your first visit, you'll have two hours to tell me about yourself and what brings you in here today," Gayle said.

Blair sat for a moment and played with the charms on her bracelet. She really didn't want to talk about this, but something about being here made Blair feel comfortable. They were alone, there wasn't any chance for someone to be eavesdropping and she didn't feel like she would be judged. Blair took a deep breath and told her the condensed version of her life story and everything she felt was important for the doctor to know.

When Gayle said time was up, Blair's face was streaked with tears.

Blair wiped the tears off her face with a handkerchief. She actually felt a little better now that she told someone. "Do you know what's wrong with me?"

"I don't diagnose patients in the first session. It's too soon to tell for sure. I can only share with you a tentative diagnosis, if you wish to hear it."

"I want to know," Blair said.

"Well from what you said has been going on, I think you may have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Again this is not an official diagnosis. I need to see you a few more times, before I can officially diagnose you. I'd like to see you again next week. You can make an appointment with my secretary at the front desk."

Blair stood up, "okay, I will. Thank you." Blair walked out the door.

Gayle leaned back in her chair. She didn't know if she would ever see Blair again. She hoped she would though, she knew Blair really needed help. She learned to treat every new patient as if that would be the only time she ever saw them, since forty percent of patients never returned for a second session.

* * *

August 8th, 1997

After Tootie left Natalie in Las Vegas, Natalie traveled to Phoenix and Dallas. Dallas was a place like Denver, where there were mega long lines of people who wanted Natalie to sign their books.

Natalie was now in Orlando, Florida with a significantly shorter line. The next person in line was a very pregnant brunette woman. She was carrying a baby on her hip and holding the hand of another little boy.

"Nancy, is that you?" Natalie asked.

"Yes, it is me. It's nice to finally see an adult person again."

"So, how many kids do you have?"

"Nine, I have my oldest son, two sets of twin boys, a girl, this little boy, this baby girl, and the one on the way."

"Wow, you and Roger were busy."

"This is going to be my last one, I made Roger get a vasectomy. I'm so tired of being pregnant all the time."

Natalie considered herself lucky that she and Snake had Annie. She wished that she had more kids, but adoption was expensive. It took almost everything they had to adopt Annie.

"So, do you have any kids?" Nancy asked.

"Just one, she's ten. We adopted her. Sometimes I wish I had your problem." Natalie signed Nancy's book.

"Mommy, I have to go potty," the little boy holding Nancy's hand said.

"Well, we better go," Nancy said. "It was nice seeing you again."

"It was nice seeing you too, Nancy."

Natalie continued with her book signing. One more week and her whole tour would be over and she could get back to her family.


	9. Sister Friends

August 13th, 1997

It was dinner time on the final Wednesday of camp, which also meant it was the last mail day. Annie was getting anxious now. She had asked her Aunt Blair to send her some makeup, so she would have it for the square dance that was going to be held the next day. The package never came and tonight was her last chance to get it.

Hayley stood on a chair and whistled. Everyone in the mess hall quieted down.

"It's time to hand out mail for the last time. It should go quickly, since there isn't that much today."

Annie looked over at the mail pile. There really wasn't that much. There were two packages available. Annie hoped one of them was hers. Luckily for Annie, she didn't have to wait too long to find out. They always gave out the packages first.

The first one belonged to a boy. The other one was a little smaller.

"Annie Robinson," Hayley called.

Annie jumped out of her chair and took the package from a boy that was helping hand out the mail. Annie stood behind the other boy in the moose line.

* * *

August 14th, 1997

Tonight was the square dance, the night Annie had been waiting for. Everyone was in their cabin's getting ready. The young campers were treating the square dance as if it was a high school dance. Some of the girls had said they didn't want to go and dance with the boys. The counselors had told them that this was just a fun activity that wasn't that serious. They didn't have to dress up, they didn't have to dance with the boys, partners would be switched and an uneven ratio of boys to girls would mean not everyone would have a member of the opposite sex to dance with. Some of the campers didn't really believe that this would be fun. Annie didn't care, she wanted to look nice for Scott.

Annie had opened the package Blair had sent her. Inside was lip gloss, nail polish, and body glitter. That was it. Annie was a little disappointed, but there was a note from Blair saying she would give her a proper makeup lesson, when she was older and with her mother's permission. Annie realized she didn't really know how to use makeup, she didn't really even know how to paint her own nails, having never done it herself before.

Annie decided she would ask Kelsey to help her. She was sure that Kelsey probably knew how to use this stuff, being Blair's daughter. Annie asked Katie if she could go over to Kelsey's cabin. She was given permission as long as a buddy went with her.

Annie took Mary with her and they went over to Bear cabin.

"What are you doing here?" Kelsey came out on the porch.

"I need you to help me put this stuff on." Annie showed Kelsey the contents of the package.

"Why should I? You were nasty to me and Elsie. You said one of us was evil and that my parents gave Elsie away."

"Kelsey, I know I said those things and I'm sorry. I was a jerk. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. I was just being me. I can't help it sometimes. Sometimes I forget that what comes out of my mouth can be hurtful. Will you forgive me?"

"Well, maybe…" Kelsey eyed the nail polish. "… If you share it with me. My nail polish is chipped, although that really isn't my color. I'll have to have my mom give me a manicure, when we get home."

"Fine, whatever, I'll share it with you. Just please, help me."

"Come in, I'll do Mary's nails too."

"Yay!" Mary said as she and Annie followed Kelsey into the cabin.

* * *

Scott was waiting for Annie at the entrance to the mess hall. He had decided to wear a cowboy hat, he had bought at the camp shop. It had his name embroidered on the brim. Some of the other boys were also wearing hats.

"Hey Annie," Scott greeted her. "You look nice."

"You like it? I was wondering if you would notice."

"Yeah, you look… sparkly."

The mess hall was cleared of all the tables and chairs in preparation for the square dance. It was decorated with bales of straw. Tisha and Jamie were standing against a wall talking.

"I'm not dancing with nobody," Jamie stated.

"Come on, Jamie. It can't be that bad," Tisha said.

Jason had emerged from his office to serve as the caller. He grabbed the microphone and told everyone to find a partner.

Annie and Scott held hands as everyone else looked for a partner. Brett ended up with Katie, Kelsey chose Elsie as her partner, and Tisha and Leah were partners.

"If you don't have a partner, try the lost and found over against the wall." Jason pointed over to where Jamie was standing.

A boy walked up to Jamie and asked her to be his partner.

"Bug off," Jamie said. Jamie walked away from the wall and leaned against a hay bale.

Jason had Jessica and a boy camper demonstrate the moves that would be called out. Then he had everyone get into a square formation. "Cotton Eyed Joe" played on the stereo as Jason called.

"Heel, toe, heel, toe, slide, slide, slide."

"One and three, do-si-do."

"Two and four, do-si-do."

"Promenade your partner."

"Everyone join hands and circle left."

"Circle right."

"Switch partners."

Brett was now partnered with Elsie. Kelsey was with Tisha. Katie was with Jessica, Leah was with Scott, and Annie had dragged Jamie away from the hay bale.

"Do you want your legs broke?" Jamie glared.

Jason took them through it again. It was too late for Jamie to back out.

"Everyone join hands in a large circle, and circle right." Jason played the music for the "Chicken Dance."

Jamie actually started having fun, when she realized how informal the whole thing really was.

* * *

It was dark when the square dance was over. Annie followed close behind the other girls as they all walked back to their cabins to get ready for bed. Annie felt a chill go down her spine. She shuddered, when they passed the remains of the old dilapidated bathroom. She kept her eyes on the lake the whole time. She hoped she wouldn't see the ice princess again.

Annie looked up at the sky and looked for the moon, it was waxing gibbous, so it wasn't a full moon. As she was looking for the moon, she had slowed her walk and she felt someone run into her from behind. Annie let out a yelp and grabbed the hand of the person walking next to her.

"Oops, sorry," Elsie said.

"Watch where you're going!" Annie yelled.

"You stopped right in front of me," Elsie said on the verge of tears.

"You can let go of my hand," Mary said.

"Oh, sorry, she just bumped into me." Annie let go of Mary's hand.

Kelsey walked up beside Annie. "What did you say to my sister?"

"Ugh, I'm sorry, I didn't know it was her. She bumped into me."

That's where the conversation ended, Annie and Mary were back at the Wolf cabin with the rest of their bunkmates. The other groups continued walking to theirs.

* * *

August 15th, 1997

After Natalie's stop in Orlando, Florida, she made stops in Atlanta and Charlotte. Natalie was now on the last stop of her book tour in Washington, D.C. Natalie was almost through the line, then she could go back to her hotel and rest, before her flight home the next day.

"Next," Natalie said unenthusiastically. Natalie was exhausted from touring all over the country. She couldn't wait to go back home to her husband and pick Annie up from the bus the following day.

A woman with red hair handed Natalie her book.

"Who am I making this out to?"

"Natalie, don't you recognize me?" the woman asked.

"No, who are you?"

"Come on, Natalie, we went to Eastland together."

Natalie looked at the woman again. Then her face broke out into a grin as recognition dawned on her.

"Molly Parker, I haven't seen you since we were at Eastland. You've changed so much. What have you been up to?"

"I'm in politics," Molly said. "I'm hoping to run for president in 2004."

"I would vote for you."

"I also started a women's shelter downtown, it's called Parker House."

"That's great," Natalie said. Natalie signed Molly's book.

"So what have you been up to?" Molly asked. "Do you still live with Tootie, Blair, and Jo?"

"No, we're all happily married and we live near each other back in Peekskill. I spent the last few years working on this book and most of the summer on this book tour."

"I'm not interested in getting married. Married life is not for me." Molly took her book back from Natalie.

"So, what did you think of the book?" Natalie asked.

"To tell you the truth, I've been so busy that I haven't had time to read it yet. I heard you were in town, so I grabbed my copy and decided I should come see you. I actually should get back to the shelter now. We're short staffed today."

"Okay, it was nice seeing you. Sorry I didn't recognize you right away."

"That's alright, it happens. Tell the others I said hi." Molly turned and left the library.

Natalie resumed signing books. She couldn't wait until this tour was over, she wanted to go home.

* * *

August 16th, 1997

The next morning, Annie woke up and looked around the cabin. Everyone else was still asleep. Annie looked out the window and realized that it was getting light out.

Annie felt something poking her arm. She looked down and saw the corner of a white envelope touching her left arm. She picked up the envelope and turned it over. It had her name written on it in fancy cursive handwriting.

Annie was just about to open it, when she heard rustling noises coming from the other bunks. Some of the others were waking up as well. Annie shoved the envelope in her sleeping bag. Annie looked over at the other girls. She saw that Katie and Beth were awake.

Katie sat up and looked at her watch.

"It's time to get up, girls. Everyone needs to pack up before we go to breakfast."

"I don't want camp to be over," Beth said.

"Yeah, I don't want to go home," Missy said, yawning.

"Yeah, that means we have to go back to school soon," Mary said.

"Well, I'm sorry, but camp is over and you all need to pack up your things and clean the cabin," Katie said.

Annie jumped down from her bunk. She walked around the cabin and picked up all her clothes. Annie couldn't wait to get out of the cabin, it wasn't any fun sleeping in the infamous ice princess cabin anymore.

Annie got dressed and pulled her sleeping bag down from the bunk. She pulled the envelope out and shoved it into the front pocket of her jeans. She rolled her sleeping bag up and tied her pillow to it.

When everyone was ready and the cabin was clean, Katie led everyone out of the mess hall where there were signs posted for campers to place their luggage in piles according to bus and a spot for the campers that were being picked up by parents.

* * *

After breakfast the kids stood outside the busses to say goodbye to their friends. Scott was talking to Annie. Elsie and Kelsey were clinging to each other in front of the bus to Peekskill.

"I'm going to miss you," Elsie said. "I don't want you to go."

"I'll miss you too, but don't worry. I'm going to make sure we see each other again. Just talk to your mom, when you get home, and I'll talk to my parents. Maybe they will know what happened."

"Everyone going to Peekskill, New York, please board the bus now." A voice called.

Annie was talking to Scott.

"Is that your bus?" Scott asked.

"Yeah, we'll be leaving soon."

"I want you to have this." Scott handed Annie the cowboy hat that he wore to the square dance.

"Really, you want me to have your hat?"

Scott nodded.

"I'll keep it forever."

"Final call for Peekskill," The voice said once more.

"I have to go, do you have my address?" Annie asked.

"Yeah, I'll write to you when I get home."

Annie looked at the bus driver, waiting impatiently. "I better go."

"Wait a minute," Scott said. He kissed her softly on the cheek. "Bye, Annie."

Annie decided she was never going to wash her face again. "Bye, Scott." Annie climbed on the bus and walked to the back in a daze. She sat down next to Tisha and clutched the cowboy hat to her chest.

Kelsey climbed on the bus after having to be separated from Elsie by two counselors. She sat next to Jamie.

Tisha noticed the envelope sticking out of Annie's pocket as the bus pulled away from camp.

"What's that in your pocket?"

"Oh, I forgot about that. I found it in my bed this morning." Annie pulled the envelope out of her pocket. She quickly opened it and read it.

_Annie,_

_I'll see you next year._

_-Violette a.k.a. the ice princess_

Annie shoved the letter back into her pocket.

"What was it?" Tisha asked. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Yeah… um you know… the ice princess? Well, I saw her… one night, when I got up… to go to the bathroom."

"Annie, that was Katie," Jamie stated.

"No, it wasn't," Annie said.

"Yeah, it was," Tisha said. "I heard all the counselors talking about it this morning, Brett told them it was their prank to get back at you."

"Yeah, Elsie told me, it's true," Kelsey said. "Katie had her mom send her a white flannel nightgown. She snuck out after you left the cabin."

"But… I heard wolves," Annie said.

"Annie, those were the boys howling. Wolves don't live in this area anymore," Jamie said.

Annie crossed her arms over her chest and scowled. "No, one messes with me. I'll get them back next year."

"What are you going to do?" Tisha asked.

"I don't know, but I'll figure it out."

Kelsey was looking absently out the window. Jamie nudged her with her elbow.

"What?" Kelsey asked.

"Are you missing Elsie?" Jamie asked.

Kelsey nodded, she swept a tear off of her face.

"It's going to be okay," Jamie said.

"I don't believe it is," Kelsey said. "I think my mom is going to flip out."

"Well, then it's a good thing she has my mom to help her," Jamie said.

"She has my mom too," Tisha said.

"Mine too," Annie said.

"They will help her through it," Jamie said. "Grandma will too, and we'll be here for you."

"Yeah, because that's what sister friends do," Tisha said.

Kelsey smiled and went back to looking out the window.

* * *

Brett and Katie stood outside the main office building, waiting for their parents to pick them up. Elsie was sitting on a bench next to all their stuff.

"So, when's your mom coming?" Brett asked.

"Probably in about fifteen minutes," Katie replied.

"My mom probably won't be here for another hour," Brett said. "So, did you give Annie the letter?"

"Yeah, I put in her bunk when she was sleeping. She found it this morning and she shoved it in her pocket," Katie said.

Jessica and Leah walked up behind them.

"I found out what you did to Annie Robinson," Jessica said. "Not bad for a rookie."

"Yeah, I heard you got her real good," Leah said. "The other kids said she was afraid to leave the cabin to go to the bathroom at night."

"She wasn't supposed to get hurt though," Katie said. "I feel bad that her elbow was all scratched up, because she tripped when we scared her."

"She was fine though, she even toughed it out when she got attacked by the bear," Jessica said. "Is it true that she tried to switch bunks with another girl?"

"Yeah, her bunk had 'the ice princess was here' carved on the wall above it. Beth wouldn't switch with her, no one would."

"I don't blame them," Jessica said. A car pulled up in front of them. "My ride is here."

"Bye Jess," Brett said.

Leah walked over to the bench and sat next to Elsie. Katie looked at Brett.

"I don't want to say bye to you," Katie said.

"This is not goodbye, it's see you later. I'm going to convince my mom to let us move to Peekskill and I'm going to see if I can transfer to Langley." Brett said. Brett looked back at where Elsie was sitting having a conversation with Leah. "I'll tell you all about what goes down with Elsie and her new found twin."

"You have my number, right?" Katie asked.

Brett dug a piece of paper out of his pocket. "Yeah, I have it right here."

A car pulled up in front of them and the driver honked the horn.

"That's my mom." Katie said. Katie picked up her bags and put them in the back seat. She opened the passenger side door and started getting in.

"Katie, wait!"

Katie stopped suddenly and turned around. "What is… ?"

Brett smashed his lips into hers, before she could get another word out. Katie closed her eyes. She couldn't believe Brett Phillips was kissing her. She had dreamed of this moment for the last six weeks.

Brett pulled himself away from her. "I'm sorry, I don't know. …"

"Shh, it's all right, I liked it." Katie kissed him back. "Catch you later."

Brett watched Katie get into the car.

"See you later," Brett said, as they drove away.

"Brett has a girlfriend," Elsie teased.

Brett turned around, walked over the bench, with a mischievous smirk on his face, and tickled Elsie mercilessly. He would miss this if things didn't work out the way he hoped.

* * *

Jo walked in the front door and saw Mrs. Garrett standing in the living room. Mrs. Garrett held one finger up to her lips, signaling to Jo that she should be quiet. Mrs. Garrett pointed to the couch, where Tad was sitting with Blair's head in his lap. Amanda was lying on Blair's chest and all three were sleeping.

"Amanda must have worn them out," Jo whispered. "Did you take pictures?"

"Yeah, I used the rest of the film from my disposable camera," Mrs. Garrett answered. "Let's go in the kitchen, I don't want to wake them up. Blair hasn't been sleeping well lately."

Jo and Mrs. Garrett went in the kitchen. Mrs. Garrett started a pot of coffee.

"Where's Bruce?" Jo asked.

"He's lying down upstairs, he'll be down when it's time to pick up the children. He wants to take everyone out to dinner tonight."

"That's nice of him, he doesn't have to do that," Jo said.

"He wants to, he wants to get to know everyone. He feels a little out of place living here after all these years away. It would help him feel less awkward, if he got to know everyone as soon as possible."

"I'll do everything I can to make sure he's comfortable and I'm sure the other girls will too. We'll make sure the kids are quiet and well behaved too."

"Jo, he wants everyone to be themselves, even if it's noisy. He doesn't have grandchildren of his own. He thinks it will be nice to have kids around, like there was in Africa."

"Alright, just don't complain when I fight with Blair. I'll remind you that you wanted us to be ourselves."

Mrs. Garrett smiled. "You don't fight with Blair anymore."

"Yeah, we do sometimes, but they aren't as intense as they used to be."

"That's because you grew up, you've matured, and you're able to work out your own problems."

"Is it okay, if I still need you sometimes?"

"Of course it is, you don't even have to ask," Mrs. Garrett said. "Where's Natalie and Tootie?"

"Tootie's picking Natalie up from the airport. They should be here any minute."

Tad walked in the kitchen with Amanda. He grabbed a mug from the cupboard and poured himself a cup of coffee from the freshly brewed pot.

"Is Blair still asleep?" Jo asked.

Tad nodded and took a sip of his coffee. "When did you guys come home?"

"Just a short bit ago," Mrs. Garrett answered.

"Where's Rick and… is his name Bruce?" Tad asked.

"Yes, his name is Bruce, he is upstairs," Mrs. Garrett said.

"Rick is at home, he wanted to check the answering machine messages and take a shower before we pick up the kids," Jo said. "So, did Amanda start talking yet?"

"No," Tad answered.

Mrs. Garrett took Amanda from Tad and Tad sat at the table.

"Come on, you can say Grandma," Mrs. Garrett said.

"Nah, that may be too hard," Jo said. "Say 'Jo.'"

Amanda stuck her fingers in her mouth and looked at Mrs. Garrett and Jo like they were crazy.

Jo felt someone wrap their arms around her waist from behind, and place their head against her back.

"Hi Blair, I missed you too," Jo didn't even hear her come in. "I know it's you, because of the burn scars on your left hand."

"She's not going to say 'Jo' before she says 'Mama,'" Blair stated. "And you can't see those anymore."

"She might say 'Jo,' before she says 'Mama' and yes, you can still see them, they are fading though."

Natalie and Tootie walked into the kitchen from the back doorway.

"Hey guys," Natalie said. "Jo, you know Blair is touching you, right?"

"Yeah, I know." Jo said. "Alright, you can let go now blondie, I don't need your princess cooties."

Blair let go of Jo and Tad pulled her into his lap. "I don't mind princess cooties." Tad kissed Blair's head.

"So, you banged your head up real good, didn't you?" Jo looked at the new scar on Blair's head.

"What?" Mrs. Garrett asked.

"She had a seizure and split it open," Jo said.

Mrs. Garrett took a look at it. "Oh honey, you know what that means?"

"No driving for a year," Blair answered. "That's alright, Jo will just have to drive me around and go shopping with me."

"Not on this planet," Jo said.

"We can shop on your home planet. Where is it again that Neanderthals come from?"

"Alright, enough you two," Mrs. Garrett said.

"Hey, I thought you wanted us to be ourselves," Jo said.

"When do we have to pick up the kids?" Natalie asked.

"In an hour or so," Tootie answered.

"Well, better get moving, Blair, it'll take you an hour to look like someone from planet Earth."

Blair glared at Jo and went upstairs to get ready.

* * *

It was around one o'clock when the bus pulled into the parking lot of Peekskill Elementary. All of the kids got off and ran to their parents.

Blair picked up Kelsey and held her tightly in her arms.

"Mommy, you're squeezing me. I can't breathe."

Blair loosened her grip on Kelsey, a few tears ran down Blair's cheeks. "I'm sorry, I just missed you so much. You smell like camp, I'm going to have to get you out of these cotton and polyester clothes, and toss you in the bubble bath when we get home."

"But Mommy, I like cotton and polyester," Kelsey said.

"I'm going to pretend that I didn't just hear you say that."

"Will you give me a new manicure? My nails were chipped and I don't like this color."

"Of course, we can do our toes too."

"Did you have fun at camp, princess?" Tad asked.

"Yeah, but I fell in the mud and a bunch of boys threw me in the lake and I got my hair wet," Kelsey said. "And Jamie thought it was so funny."

Blair gasped and looked over at Jo, Rick and Jamie. They were all laughing at something Jamie was saying.

* * *

"… Then some older boys threw her in the lake," Jamie said. "Oh, and one night she found a snake in her bed. She screamed and woke up the whole camp."

Jo laughed, "I'm glad you had fun."

"I made a lion mask in arts and crafts," Jamie said. "I'll show it to you when we get home."

"Dad has something to show you when we get home," Jo said. "He went fishing and hooked his back and he got stitches."

"Did you get a cool new scar?" Jamie asked.

Rick nodded.

"How big is it?" Jamie asked excitedly. "I wonder if it's bigger than Annie's."

"I don't know," Jo said. "Maybe we can compare scars later. Your Aunt Blair just got a really gross one. Maybe she'll let you see it."

* * *

Natalie was looking at Annie's shoulder.

"It looks like you took care of this pretty well," Natalie said. "I think it's about time we made an appointment to get the stitches out."

"Can we get them out today, they are itchy?"

"We'll see, I'll call when we get home and see if I can get you in. We have dinner plans with everyone tonight."

"Where?" Annie asked. "I want to go to McDonalds."

"We're not going to McDonalds, we don't get to pick the restaurant."

"I better not have to wear a dress."

"You probably won't have to, Aunt Blair isn't picking either."

"Good," Annie said.

"So, did you behave at camp this year?"

* * *

Tootie and Jeff were talking to Tisha next to their car.

"I got all your letters and I had to kiss the moose a lot, but I didn't care. I missed you so much. I have so much stuff to tell you."

"Okay, you can tell us on the way home. We have to get ready to go out to dinner. I want to wash your clothes and you need to take a shower."

Jeff put Tisha's luggage in the hatchback of the station wagon. Tisha got in the back seat talking animatedly the entire time.

"You will never believe who we met at camp."

* * *

Tad was driving them home. Blair was looking in her visor mirror, while she was touching up her make up. Blair caught Kelsey watching her from the back seat and smiled at her.

"Mommy, I have to ask you a question?"

Blair opened up her lipstick. "What is it? You can ask me anything."

"It's about my sister."

"Amanda's at home with Grandma. She's not talking yet."

"No, it's about my other sister."

"What other sister?" Blair asked. _Does she know about her twin? Who told her?_

"My twin sister. I met her at camp."

Tad swerved the car and slammed on the brakes. Blair drew a line of pink lipstick across her face, as she lost control of the tube.


End file.
